A Soul Possessed
by C.W. Smith
Summary: How far would a mother go to protect her son? After seeing the torment in her sons mind, Yui Ikari decides to do something about it.
1. A Presence Felt

A Soul Possessed

Chapter 1: A Presence Felt

By: Lord Deathscythe

Disclaimer: I don't own a damn thing involved with this story. Not the Characters, not the mecha, not even the little stuff they put all over the place. That's Gainax's stuff. I hope they don't sue me over this

It was a normal morning for the people of Tokyo-3. The cicadas were chirping up a storm as Shinji and Asuka ran to school. "Baka Shinji, we're going to be late because of you. Why can't you just get your act together?" Asuka shouted as they ran.

"I'm sorry" Shinji replied, it was all he could really say. Even if it wasn't his fault. Asuka had been in the bath for half an hour this morning; he felt it would be much safer to take the blame then to point out the facts. Of course it was a no win situation for the young Ikari. She'd be pissed at him either way, but she'd be less violent if he took responsibility. So as she insulted him about always being sorry he tuned her out. The fact that he was hopelessly in love with her didn't help matters.

As they got to the school and to their classroom for another torture session from their teachers' endless ramblings about Second Impact, he started to think back to the 12th angel. It had only been three weeks since he had been pulled into the Sea of Dirac. Several images had assaulted his sanity while he was in there. Some he believed may have been lost memories of his mother, but he couldn't be sure. Everything had been so out of control, he didn't know is he was going mad or hallucinating at that point. He still couldn't quite explain what the feeling was as he passed out and Unit-01 went berserk, destroying the angel from the inside out. They we're still trying to get the blood stains off the street.

The day passed as it usually did, a few hours of Second Impact lecture, followed by lunch. This was followed by more Second Impact lecture. His train of thought continued to revolve around his imprisonment within the twelfth even hours later as he sat in Unit-01's entry plug later that day. _"What did all those images mean? Maybe they were just old memories I hadn't thought about in a long time. Or maybe I'm starting to go mad, starting to lose my mind. All this worry is starting to give me a headache."_

Dr. Akagi had noticed something strange on Shinji's brain wave readings. Unlike Asuka and Rei, who had been training for years, Shinji's brainwave patterns had been slowly changing do to the Evas influence up until the twelfth attacked. Since then, however, the changes had become much more pronounced and happened at a considerably faster pace. "Misato, has Shinji been acting differently lately?" She asked offhandedly.

"A little more withdrawn, understandable after what he went through, a bit depressed which for him is normal. Other then that nothing else out of the ordinary, why?" Misato hid her concern well. Even if she were the only one to show that they gave a damn whether he came back from the battles alive or not, she knew that to loose control and press the good doctor for information immediately wouldn't help him. To her, he was like an adopted son and she would do anything in her power to end this nightmare so he could have a chance at a normal life.

"His readings are a bit… off. It might just be from almost dying in the 12th. Keep a closer eye on him though just in case, okay?"

"Sure thing Ritsuko." Misato wasn't buying what the doctor was selling. She had a feeling in her gut that Ritsuko was hiding something from her. But for now she was willing to let it go, and keep a closer eye on Shinji.

As the children got out of their plugs at the end of the tests and changed their clothes, Shinji's headache continued to get worse. "Must be from sitting in LCL so long," he thought. He reached into his locker for the bottle of aspirin he kept in there for just after a battle when his muscles were sore. He took two and had some water, then proceeded to leave Nerv and go home.

As he prepared dinner that night for Asuka and Misato, his headache returned. It made no sense to him that the aspirin was wearing off so quickly. He took two more with dinner then went to bed. His head hurt so bad that he couldn't even listen to his SDAT, the volume wouldn't go down low enough. As he lay in bed, eventually falling into a restless slumber, the headache continued. If this kept up he was going to really go mad. He would have to talk to Ritsuko tomorrow about doing something about it.

Had Ritsuko been given the opportunity to monitor Shinji's brainwaves as he slept, she would have been shocked to find a completely different pattern begin to emerge as Shinji passed into his dreams and nightmares. A pattern that hadn't been seen on any charts for ten years.

To Be Continued…

Authors notes: Version 2 here of part 1 of "A Soul Possessed." Thanks to Jason Carter and Matt Williams for their assistance on things like grammar and tense, also for helping me out with some ideas to make this story more interesting. I had originally intended for part 1 to be more of a trailer of sorts, but I just couldn't let it stay where it was. Thanks to Lord Random1377 and Lord Ryan T. Nelson for their assistance in this whole series production. Those two have helped me out a hell of a lot with story concepts as well as keeping me sane and in a good mode. I get depressed easily sometimes.

C&C as always is welcome at or 


	2. In the Darkest Night

A Soul Possessed

Chapter 2: In the Darkest Night

By: Lord Deathscythe

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

Shinji sat in the classroom, trying to stay awake and push his headache to the back of his mind. It was becoming unbearable, and no amount of aspirin was helping. He had never had migraine headaches his entire life, and didn't know where this one had come from. He couldn't help but feel a sense of dread as the day continued, as if something sinister was happening to him. Perhaps his head hurt because of some horrible contamination from Unit-01? He would have to ask Ritsuko ASAP, if this kept up he wouldn't be able to function let alone sync with the purple monster.

His gaze turned to the left, and fell upon the First Child. She was a puzzle, locked in mystery, and wrapped in enigma. Shinji knew that she had been the test pilot of Unit-01, and that she was connected to his father. Aside from that, there really was nothing he knew about her. He felt betrayed by his father, for Gendo Ikari having chosen Rei over him. But what was this feeling he had about her? Why did she look so familiar? And why was his headache getting worse just by looking at the pale First Child?

He averted his gaze from her, the pain lessening as his eyes focused on his laptop. The feeling of betrayal however grew stronger, and he even became a little disgusted by her. He had never been disgusted by Rei Ayanami, not even when he first saw her and his father together. Now it was almost as if she had become something… grotesque. As if she were an abomination, a true freak of nature. He couldn't understand this sudden change of feelings about her. Perhaps it was related to his headache? Thank God that school was almost over, he could go to Nerv soon and get some help. Ironic that he hated the place, yet it was the first place he thought of going to get help with this.

As the final bell rang, driving Shinji almost mad with pain, Rei glanced at the young Ikari. He had been acting… unusual of late. While Ikari had never been completely comfortable around her, he had never avoided her like he had been. Also, Rei felt something was wrong with him. His constant grasping of his head not withstanding, something else just beyond Rei's senses was changing about Ikari. It was… disturbing.

Commander Ikari would have to be made aware of these changes in Ikari's behavior immediately. If there were a problem, the Commander would know what to do about it.

--

Shinji was slowly making his way through the halls of Nerv. His progress had been slowed by the horrifying pain he was feeling in his head. It was becoming too much for him to bear as he leaned against the steel wall of the passageway for support. His mind was slowly beginning to shutdown, looking for some respite from the agony searing his skull. Slowly, the world around Shinji Ikari faded into black.

Instead of collapse to the ground though, Shinji straightened up. Slowly, he made his way through Nerv and stopped at a Magi terminal. Keys began pressing and depressing at a speed only seen from Dr. Akagi. Files that Shinji should not have even know existed, let alone had clearance for were brought up as he went through the Magi at a disturbing speed. After he had closed all the files and ended the session on the terminal, Shinji turned away and walked out the door. The microphones in the area were able to pick up only four words, "Soon, very soon now."

No human eyes had seen what he had used the terminal for, but the Magi had recorded an entry using a high level security code. It was a little known code, one that not even Gendo Ikari knew about. A code that most would think lost in the past, as it was only known to three women who were now long dead.

--

Shinji awoke just outside the room where he had used the terminal. To say he was confused was an understatement, but his headache had subsided some from earlier. Eventually, still worried over what could only have been a blackout, he made his way to Ritsuko's office. His odd movements, while not seen by Section two, had been seen by one person. Rei Ayanami continued to follow and observe Ikari, curious about what had transpired. Also, the more she knew before going to the Commander, the better she would be able to inform him of the situation. Pilot Ikari was acting too strangely, and she didn't want to go to the Commander without adequate information.

She followed his as he made his way to Dr. Akagi's office, staying far enough away so as not to alert him to her surveillance. As he entered the doctor's office, Rei moved to listen from behind the door. She could hear the conversation on the other side of the door perfectly, and listened in as Shinji told Dr. Akagi what he knew of his situation.

"Dr. Akagi, I need some help."

"Sure Shinji, what can I do for you?"

"I'm having these horrible headaches lately. I've never had anything this painful in my life outside of Eva. And just now I think I passed out in the hall, but I woke up outside one of the Magi terminal rooms."

Now, knowing what Ritsuko knew about Unit-01 and Shinji's mental condition, the doctor automatically began theorizing and calculating what could be happening with the Third Child. It was possible he was suffering from mental contamination from Unit-01. This could be a big problem, especially if he was rendered unable to pilot. Almost immediately she started moving him towards the medical scanners to check him out.

"Just try to relax, Shinji. I'll just run a few tests and see what we can do to help you. Okay?" Ritsuko said, trying her hardest to be comforting. This was impaired by her complete lack of a bed-side manner. As she looked over the readings, she noticed that his brainwave patterns were off the charts. It seemed to switch between one distinct pattern to another. She recognized Shinji's pattern, but couldn't identify the pattern that was asserting itself. She took notes and theorized about what could be happening, all the while not telling Shinji a thing. As she let him up, she handed him a bottle of painkillers.

"Take four of these before you eat, but no more for at least twelve hours. If you take too many you could hurt yourself. If the pain returns take them again, if not then hold on to them until it does. I want you to come see me tomorrow. I'll see if I can find a cause for these headaches."

"All right Dr. Akagi, thanks for your help." With this said Shinji left the doctors office, not seeing Rei hiding behind the door.

Ritsuko took her data and left as well, heading in the direction of Commander Ikari's office. Rei, seeing that the doctor was headed the same direction, followed her.

--

In the dark, cold office of the Supreme Commander of Nerv Gendo Ikari looked over the data Dr. Akagi had brought before him. This was curious information, and the effects on the Third Child described in the report may work against him. The doctor had assured him that the effect on Pilot Ikari's status with Unit-01 was not in danger, which had been the only thing of relevance. The only reason he bothered to listen to the rest was to appease Dr. Akagi, and to allow her to believe she was useful. Nothing else mattered but the scenario. So he would play the attentive Commander, as long as was necessary.

"As of now, the disturbance in the Third Child's brainwave pattern is increasing. While this is causing severe headaches, the increase in the disturbance is directly proportional to his sync ratio. The increases in the neural interference and his increased sync ratio have proceeded at a steady rate parallel to each other."

"So this is beneficial to his performance as pilot."

"Not necessarily. While it is increasing his ability to use Unit-01, it is interfering with his abilities to actually act. These headaches are interfering with his reasoning, understanding, and even his motor functions. I believe that, while he may eventually be able to reach 100 sync, it would be useless do to neural paralysis. There is one other thing."

"And that is doctor?"

"The interference seems to have a coherent pattern. The only time I've seen it is when Unit-01 has gone berserk."

"Understood doctor, dismissed."

Ritsuko left the dark office of the supreme commander of Nerv, pondering on this problem. Gendo, however, began placing this turn of events in his scenario. It could be quite beneficial to his plans, or destroy everything he had worked so hard for. It was all in how he played this game.

Rei entered Gendo's office unannounced, though her entrance was so quiet that no one but Gendo would have noticed.

"Yes Rei?"

"Commander, Pilot Ikari has been acting strangely of late."

Gendo immediately gave Rei his undivided attention. He knew she would be the first to notice any sort of irregularities in either the Second or Third Children.

"Explain."

"He has been moody, evasive, and has been clutching his head many times. He has even begun to avoid my presence completely. There may be something wrong with Ikari. He usually tries to be… friendly with me."

"Continue to monitor him. Report any abrupt changes in behavior to me immediately."

"Yes sir."

As Rei left Gendo to think and plan on how this may affect his plans, she wondered if Ikari would be alright.

--

As the night went on through Tokyo-3, Shinji lay in bed trying to block the pain in his head. It had improved some with the medication Dr. Akagi had given him, but he still felt as if Unit-01 was standing on his skull. As he fell into a restless and troubled sleep, he hoped that this agony would end soon. Unfortunately the body was not going to get any rest tonight. A few seconds after his eyes had closed, they opened again. Shinji sat up, but it didn't seem to be him. The motion was too fluid and feminine to be the young boy, and yet it was.

Soft foot steps echoed in the room as the form of Shinji Ikari moved towards the small mirror in his room. As his face gazed into the reflecting glass, a tear fell from his eye. Slowly, his right hand reached up, and lightly stroked his cheek. For a second, one could almost swear that Shinji wasn't the one looking in the mirror.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. You shouldn't have had to deal with this, shouldn't have had to be alone for so long."

She stared into the sad eyes in the mirror, The eyes she herself was now using. She had hoped the happy, carefree glimmer she had seen in Shinji's eyes when he was young would still be there, but it had long since faded. Now there was only a hollow emptiness she felt could pull both of them into an abyss. An abyss that Yui had never wanted her son to know.

"I just wanted you to have a chance at happiness, and as long as you live there is still a chance for you to be happy. I just hope that, when I've done what I need to do, that you will never have to worry about Angels or Evas again."

With that, Yui settled her son back into bed so that his body could rest the night.

--

Pain. That was the first thing Shinji felt when he awoke the next morning. The headache had not gotten worse, but hadn't gotten any better. The slight reprieve for rest gone, Shinji arose to take another one of Ritsuko's pain killers. He was fortunate that Asuka hadn't awoken him that morning; he could barely stand opening his eyes let alone endure her screaming for him to rise. Slowly he took the small pill and downed a glass of water to wash it down.

This had to stop, and soon.

Misato came into the kitchen as Shinji leaned against the counter awaiting the promised relief.

"Morning Shinji, you okay?"

"Headache," was the only word he could get out.

"You didn't drink from my side of the fridge last night did you?"

Shinji was in no mood for Misato's teasing this morning. In fact, he was still in too much pain to even react to it. Misato didn't miss this.

"You think maybe you should stay home today? I'm sure the school wouldn't mind letting you off a day considering."

"No, I'll be fine. Ritsuko gave me some pain killers for the headache. I just wish I knew what was causing them."

It was not lost on Shinji that his other roommate had yet to make an appearance.

"Where's Asuka?"

"She… left early. She wanted to see Hikari before going to school, something important she said."

"Ok, you're going to Matushiro to pick up Unit-03 today, right?"

Misato hesitated for a moment before answering. Shinji didn't notice however given his current state. "Yeah, Unit-03 arrived late last night. We'll be test activating it with the Fourth Child today. It's all rather routine, just like all of our other activations."

At the mention of the Fourth Child, Shinji's headache worsened. It was if a spike of pain had been driven into his mind, and that spike was driven right through one set of thoughts.

"It's Touji isn't it? He's the Fourth Child."

Misato was shocked and dismayed that Shinji knew this. She was going to tell him after the activation so that he wouldn't worry. Who ever told him was in for a BAD day when she got her hands on them.

"Yes."

"Well, here's to a successful activation. He's a good person, and I wouldn't mind the extra help even if Asuka says she can do it all."

_He took that better than I thought he would._

"Yeah, now we better get going or we'll both be late."

--

The test activation of Unit-03 was not as flawless as the people at Nerv would have liked.

Just as the third stage had begun, the Thirteenth Angel, Bardiel, had taken over the Evangelions body and destroyed the test facility. The fate of Misato Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi had yet to be determined as Unit's 00 through 02 were launched to fight the invader. Unit-00 and Unit-02 were already in position, and knowing the occupant of the entry plug of Unit-03 prepared to eliminate the angel before Unit-01 had to. Unit-01, while Shinji was synched with the demonic construct, was not prepared. The neural interference Dr. Akagi had reported had become to great for Shinji to move.

"Status of the angel?" came the cold, emotionless voice of Gendo Ikari.

"The Angel has just entered Tokyo-3, Unit-02 will engage the target first."

"And Unit-01?"

"The neural interference is just too great. Unit-01 is inoperable for all intents and purposes. Should I recall it sir?" came the report from Lt. Makato.

"Negative. Unit-01 will remain on the battle field. Attempt to filter out the interference through the A-10 junction. If necessary the dummy plug can be activated."

"Sir, Shinji's brain wave pattern is changing." Came a startled cry from Lt Ibuki.

"What do you mean, changing?" Gendo demanded

"I... I don't know," Hyouga admitted, "but Unit 01 is starting to move."

"Unit-01, hold your position."

No reply came from Unit-01 as it moved to a location parallel to Unit-00.

"Unit-01, report immediately."

A quiet response came from Unit-01, but the transmission was to the others Evas.

"Unit-02 and Unit-00, drop your AT-Fields. Unit-02, let Unit-03 pass you and observe. Unit-00, on my mark fire one shot in front of Unit-03 and prepare to move. Unit's 00 and 01 will tackle Unit-03 while 02 will come around and cuts the entry plug free and remove it. Understood?"

Rei and Asuka, while not sure why Shinji had ignored the Commander, did as he said. Asuka bit back a rather scathing remark, knowing it had a better chance of success then the one on one combat Commander Ikari had ordered them to partake in. Unit-03, not noticing Unit-02 due to its lack of a raised AT-field, passed Asuka and continued on. No one in the geofront could explain what the readings from Shinji's ekg, only that the pattern was not the Third Child's.

No one knew that Yui had taken full control of Shinji's body and Unit-01 by extension. The only thing that hinted to this effect was the voice coming from the com system. Commander Ikari and Fuyutsuki thought they heard something familiar in Pilot Ikari's voice, but could not place it.

Unit-03 slowly, gangly, moved through the streets of Tokyo-3. The Angel knew something was happening but knew not what. Bardiel had sensed three soul barriers as he approached where Adam was being held, and then they had vanished. He knew not why, nor how, only that they had. Adam's call became stronger as he approached the lillims stronghold, guiding him like a beacon.

Unit-01 stayed stationary, waiting for the right time. Yui looked out, watching as the possessed Evangelion began to come between her and Unit-00.

"Steady…"

Unit-03 now was caught right between Unit-00 and Unit-01, perfect.

"Rei, FIRE!"

On command, Rei let loose with two shots from her rifle, both landing in front of Unit-03 by a mere ten meters. Bardiel turned to where the shot had come from, the lillim had tricked him. As he began to move to attack the shooter, he sensed the raising of an AT-Field behind him. He turned towards it, but was too late as Unit-01 slammed into Unit-03's midsection. He sensed another field, and the one that had fired at him came from the other side. As much as he tried, he couldn't fight off two lillim.

Unit-01 and 00 drove the Angel to the ground, pinning its arms behind its back . As instructed, Unit-02 came around and took the progressive knife to the area behind the evas head. The webbing holding the entry plug in place was cutoff, and the entry plug pulled from its port. Unit-03 sagged, unable to move as the evas moved back from it. Without the entry plug, Unit-03 was useless.

"Open up retrieval point B5 and prepare to get this plug out of here," came Asuka's voice over the comm.

Just as Unit's 00 and 01 moved to finish off the angel permanently, Unit-03 rose quickly and grabbed Rei throwing her hard into a set of armament buildings. Asuka ran quickly to the retrieval point, her mission clear to her. Hikari would kill her if anything happened to Touji.

Just as Unit-01 moved to attack, the angels arms whipped out at the Purple monster and grabbed Unit-01 by the throat. With a sickening grin on his face, Bardiel moved to choke the life out of the shadow of Lilith. Shinji's throat was constricting in sympathy with what was happening to his unit. Yui knew she was running out of time, and moved. Unit-01's arms started to move, and broke free from the angels grasp. In the entry plug, Yui Ikari looked at Unit-03 and smirked with her sons' lips. _"Well, it seems that I get a chance to cut loose now. Let's see what my homemade monster can really do."_ With that, Yui grabbed Unit-03's arms and twisted them around. Unit-01 then kicked Unit-03 to the ground.

In command all hell was breaking loose. The bridge crew was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Retrieval team reports the Fourth Child has been recovered!" Makato yelled out.

"Sir, Shinji's sync ratio with Unit-01 is 125!!" Maya reported. This was incredible; none of the children had ever got over 95.

"What's going on Ikari? Did you plan for this to happen?" said a stunned and concerned Fuyutsuki.

"It is of no consequence. As long as the angel is destroyed then our scenario will continue." Gendo said.

"_Well now, how should I go about destroying you? Maybe just rip you APART!!!"_

With that final thought Yui pushed Unit-01 towards the angel and proceeded to maim, tear, impale, and disembowel her enemy. Blood from Unit-03 started to flow all over the city. Blood on the buildings, blood on the street, blood flowing like rivers through the river washes. After Yui was content that the Angel was in fact dead as a doornail, and resembled a grotesque version of hamburger, she stopped and started Unit-01 in the direction of the Geo-front.

"_No matter how many times you try, nothing is as good as the original model."_ she thought to herself, then returned control to Shinji.

Shinji had seen everything through his eyes, but it was as if it had been a dream. He couldn't control his body, and couldn't figure out how his voice had spoken since he had not thought of that plan. All he knew was that the angel was dead, and his friends were safe. That was enough for him.

"Shinji, Shinji are you okay?" Misato said over the comm..

"Misato? You're alive? Thank goodness, I'm so glad you're alive. Is everyone else alright? Did they get Touji out safely?'

"Of course we did Idiot. He's a little banged up but otherwise still as perverted as ever. Where did you come up with that idea Third Child?"

"I… don't know."

In command, the personnel were about at the same page as Shinji.

"Sir, Shinji's brain wave patterns have returned to normal." Makato reported. "The other pattern, what ever it was has disappeared, and we're detecting the same neural interference as before. The good news is that it has subsided substantially and Shinji can return with Unit-01."

"Very well, have Unit-01 brought back and the pilot checked out by medical." With that Gendo and Fuyutsuki left the bridge.

"What do you think happened out there, Ikari?"

"It is of no consequence. The Angel has been defeated and we can progress with our plans. We also have a spare pilot in case one of the Children becomes unusable. That is all that matters." Gendo said. In fact he was worried. If this pattern was to repeat itself it could spell imminent doom for his plans. And he'd be damned if his scenario was thrown off by something as simple as the Third Childs odd behavior. Nothing would ruin his chance to see Yui again.

To Be Continued…

Thanks to Random1377 for his help in the first part of battle scene and general assist, and Serena Ikari for her help in pre-reading as well.

I'm not so good with things beating the shit out of each other but I'll work on it. Anyone interested in Pre-reading give me a holler at could use the help for some other things.

Revised notes: Well, I went back and after MONTHS of work I have finally finished the new version of chapter 2. I know I promised that I would be quick, but I have had to update DS almost daily. I'd like to thank Angel17, Random1377, TommyRude, Sarevock, Isamu, Weltall Elite, Rommel and everyone who preread or gave advice on this and all the other fics I have in progress.

C&C are welcome at: , ICQ #74629221, or on AOL as cwsmith1701.

Later.


	3. Mother’s Love, A Mother’s Understanding ...

A Soul Possessed

Chapter 3: A Mother's Love, A Mother's Understanding / The Most Dangerous Place…

By: Lord Deathscythe

Disclaimer: See part 1

It had been three day's since the 13th angel had possessed Unit-03. Three days since death had come the closest to claiming the life of someone Shinji held as a dear friend. Shinji was still confined to a room in Nerv's hospital while Ritsuko tried to figure out what had caused his odd episode. He couldn't help but get a sense of foreboding, that something was wrong and that Ritsuko wasn't telling him and Misato the whole truth. He wasn't the only one worried.

Yui had become very suspicious of the daughter of Naoko Akagi. While Yui had trusted the elder of the Akagi's almost implicitly, the younger was much more dangerous to her as she was currently. She had watched her from Unit-01's eyes since she had taken charge of the project, had seen how she began to look at her husband. What made it even worse for her was the knowledge that Gendo might have grown so cold and unfeeling, that he would use Ritsuko's feelings to his advantage.

What had happened to the good man she had fallen in love with and married, the man to whom she had mothered a child?

Whatever had happened to Gendo Ikari, she couldn't help. He would have to answer for what he had done, no matter how painful it was for her or him in the end. Now she had but one thing concerning her, Shinji. The years of solitude and loneliness had wounded his heart worse then she thought possible. Only now, after ten years, were the wounds beginning to close. Hopefully, she could help bring some light into his soul; something which he desperately needed.

Shinji, unlike his mother or father, was not a logical type of person. Yui found it difficult to believe that her son was more an artist then she could ever hope to be. Not that she had anything against it, she was happy that he was able to create something that could touch the heart of another. It was just odd to her that he hadn't been more the analytical type as she and Gendo had been. Not to mention the fact the Shinji's parents had been about as tone deaf as they come. Yui wished desperately that she could have been the one to tell him how wonderfully he had played.

Without his SDAT with him, Shinji's mind had to find some other way to pass the time. It had chosen to focus on what might have been, replaying a nightmare of Touji being pulled from a battered entry plug covered in his own blood. He could have killed him, could have ended the life of someone who was supposed to be his friend. How could he have done that? Was he really that much of a monster? If he hadn't had that episode, would Touji even be alive? All he could do it seemed was cause pain for people he cared about. Did he even deserve to continue living on if that was what would happen to those around him?

This line of thought was not lost on Yui. Shinji was close to falling into that abyss she had seen through his eyes, with no hope of return. She had to do something, but what could a ghost do from the confines of the mind? The answer was simple, and could, luckily, be done from her prison.

Slowly, difficultly, Yui began to push some of Shinji's few happy memories to the front of his mind. It pained Yui to find that those had been so few and far between since he lost her. That he had seen her death hurt her bad enough, that it had been simply the beginning of his suffering tore at Yui's heart. She had once said that as long as he lived, anywhere could be heaven. Hell, however, was much easier to fall into and far more difficult to climb out of if not impossible.

So, as tone deaf as she was, Yui tried to push forth a piece of music Shinji enjoyed. She wasn't sure who it was by, but the title sounded like it would help. Something called "Ode to Joy" if she read her sons thoughts correctly.

While she couldn't play music, she could appreciate it. As the memory of the song coursed through Shinji's mind, she saw why he would enjoy this. It was something which lightened his heart almost instantly and edged him a hair back from the abyss. It was a start and maybe she could give him some shred of the caring he had lacked for so long.

Slowly, she touched his mind and tried to weave something into his imagination. Something simple, yet full of hope for a future Shinji felt was non-existent. It was a fantasy, him in front of an audience playing his cello in a symphony. He played as well as he ever had, the best he had ever played, and when he was done the audience began clapping. The applause was so stirring, so energetic that many men and women came out of their seats for the young man.

It would work for a time; Yui had held Shinji back from the eternal darkness he was falling towards so quickly. Hopefully it would be enough for now, to keep his soul in one piece while she tried to keep the rest of him the same way. Eventually, she would have to try something more permanent to, push him back towards the light far enough so that he could see some other path, some small hope on which to build a life. She hoped that maybe this was a start.

Shinji noticed some paper laying on the stand next to him, along with a pencil. The doctor must have left it there just in case Shinji got bored. He took it and in the center of the first line wrote "The Symphony of Tokyo-3." He began drawing staffs on the page, and began writing notes. It was surprising to him how easily it came, but when he thought about it, it made sense; he could read the notes to play so of course he could put them on the paper. As he put the notes on paper he imagined how they would sound together. Every c-sharp and d-flat merged into a melody of calm, mellow harmony. Yui could hear it all as he did this, and was thrilled at being the very first to hear Shinji's music. Then he began to give the music more force, more anger to represent an angel attack. He began to consider putting two parts for violins as both Rei and Asuka played those instruments, this should be a story told from all three of the Children's points of view.

But then as he looked over his work, he began to doubt that it would ever be anything worth while. How could he expect anyone to ever listen to this, it wasn't even worth the paper it was written on. Maybe he should just rip it up and forget about it, resign himself to his fate. It wasn't like he'd get to choose his future anymore, now that his body and soul had been consigned to Nerv as a pilot. No one else could do this, so it wasn't like his father would just let him give up so he could go chasing some impossible dream.

Yui felt this tear at her heart that Gendo had turned into such a nightmare. She tried to push Shinji back towards some hope, getting him to at least start writing some words down on the back of his music. Some thoughts on the people he was composing about. She was saddened as she saw the words on the page concerning her husband, Shinji's father. It was so painful to see how her son felt, how Gendo had driven him away. If only she could have…

Their combined reflections were interrupted by the door opening. The form walking through the door could only be described as battered, worn, and tiered.

"Misato, I was told you weren't hurt that bad." Shinji and Yui were both shocked.

Misato stood there with her head bandaged and her left arm in a cast. She looked like she had been on the receiving end of a punch from an Eva.

"Yeah, if you call this minor. But enough about me, how are you feeling? You've been stuck in here for three days now."

"I'm alright, a little worried though. No one's told me anything about what happened or why I'm here. Ritsuko seemed really nervous when I started asking her. She's said it was just routine, but if that were true I wouldn't still be here, right?"

Misato knew that Ritsuko was hiding something. She suspecting that too much was being hidden by her old friend for too long now. She was still pissed from the 12th when Ritsuko planned to destroy the angel with no thought to saving Shinji, whose life she had called irrelevant. Also finding out that the angel, Adam, was being held in Nerv's basement didn't help Ritsuko's credibility, or Nerv's in general.

"Don't worry, I'll see if I can get you released and we'll go out for dinner. How's that sound, no more hospital food."

"Okay Misato, thanks." Shinji said. Misato noticed the paper with the score written on it. It wasn't as if she could understand the symbols written there, but she wasn't Shinji. She knew she didn't have the same appreciation for music, or the skill to bring it to life as he did.

"What's that Shinji?"

"Oh, nothing important. I just got bored and I got to thinking about my music. So I thought I would write some seeing as how I know all the notes and everything. I just don't know if I should bother. It's not like I'll ever get a chance to make anything worth while out of it."

"Don't say that. You have a real gift here Shinji, and I know I could never do something like this myself. Of course, I can't really say. I've never been able to read music before. I couldn't even play an instrument in school, I was so tone deaf."

Just then, Misato's cell phone began to ring.

"Katsuragi. WHAT! Another angel is attacking? I'll be right there with Shinji. No I don't have an ETA. I'll get us there as soon as I can! Come on Shinji, we got to go. After we finish off this Angel you and I are getting dinner. I promise."

"Yay, at least you didn't promise to COOK dinner." Shinji deadpanned.

Misato would have teased him about it, but saw a smile on his face that she wished was there more of the time.

"Misato, could you hold on to this for me? I don't know if I should keep it, but I could try something. Maybe."

"Alright. It would be a shame to throw something like this out."

Yui knew about the Katsuragi girl, and seeing that she cared about Shinji so much would be very helpful to her, when the final game was played.

--

The 14th angel had just blasted its way into the Geofront, sending several of the buildings from the surface plummeting down. Yui and Shinji both watched from the confines of the hospital room in horror, powerless to do anything to stop it. Misato tried to get to Nerv Central as fast as she could, but the chaos the Angel was causing had made it difficult. Shinji held on for dear life as Misato drove like a mad woman. If Yui had a stomach, she would have been very ill by now. She was lucky that Shinji had gotten used to the quick movements Misato made at such high speed.

Ritsuko would have taken control of the situation in her absence, so it was a safe bet that Asuka and Rei were already being sent into battle.

In fact, as the made their way to the pyramid they could see Unit-02 launch in the distance with large amounts of weaponry strewn out about it as aimed for Zureal. Misato hoped Asuka, if she couldn't finish off the angel before they got to Unit-01, would at least be able to hold it off so they could back her up. As good as Asuka proclaimed she was, Misato preferred to have at least two Evas engage an Angel.

It proved to be a wise move on more then one occasion. While they hadn't had the option during the first two angels due to the damage to Unit-00, Misato would have preferred for Shinji to have had backup during those battles. Now it would seem the Commander preferred a one on one approach to combat. The most foolish strategy anyone could use.

"We have to hurry. Asuka won't be able to hold the Angel off for very long. I want you to get into Unit-01 as soon as we get there Shinji. There's not enough time to worry about you getting into your plugsuit."

"Right."

As they entered the garage, Misato slipped the paper Shinji had handed her in her glove box so she wouldn't lose it. It would not see a pencil again for some time.

--

Gendo Ikari stood in the hanger, looking at the immovable face of Unit-01. He couldn't understand why it didn't seem to respond.

"Yui, why are you refusing me?" He asked the immovable Eva.

Unit-01 should have activated for Rei and the Dummy Plug. Why was it being so stubborn? The angel had just disabled unit-00, and now it was headed to Dogma.

"Of all the times to refuse to work, why now?"

The Third Child chose that time to show up, still in hospital pajamas. Commander Ikari, while annoyed at Pilot Ikari's tardiness, didn't take the time to care about his attire. As long as the angel was destroyed then the scenario could proceed.

"You are late."

"Sorry, couldn't be helped."

"Irrelevant, prepare Unit-01 for the Third Child. Pull the dummy plug and proceed with activation," came the calm, cold orders of the Commander. Yui's heart broke a bit more then it had. That would have to wait however, now they had a job to do.

--

The 14th angel, Zureal, had just broken its way into Central Dogma. Adam's call became even more clear to the angel as it stared at the small, fragile lillim before him. They didn't matter, they weren't the reason he was there. Only one thing mattered to the angel as it prepared to remove this obstacle.

Joining with Adam.

Misato stood on the command bridge certain her death was soon to come. "_At least Shinji is safe, but for how long after we're dead? How long until he joins us? I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." _

Just as Zureal was about to eliminate the command bridge and the Nerv personnel on it, a purple fist broke through the wall and blind-sided it. Unit-01 broke through and started beating the angel into the wall. Inside, Shinji had a feral grin on his face and anger leading him on as he throw the angel back towards the cage.

"_Come on Shinji, let show this angelic bastard not to mess with us."_ Yui cheered her son from his mind. Shinji felt he wasn't alone fighting this thing, that he was being protected by something he didn't quite understand yet. The presence in his mind grew stronger.

As Shinji prepared for another onslaught on his the giant beast that was the angel, Zureal showed that he wasn't out of the fight yet. A blast from his eyes and the pain shooting through Shinji's arm via the neural interface with the Eva told him that Unit-01 had lost its left arm. Shinji charged the monster and kicked in the booster packs on his back, rocketing both him and the angel towards the catapults. It was becoming harder and harder to distinguish himself from the Eva, harder to tell where he ended and the construct began.

"Misato!" Shinji cried out, both him and Yui hoping the major understood what they were thinking.

They got their answer as the catapult propelled them to the surface of the Geofront. With out the restraints, Unit-01 and Zureal flew several hundred meters into the air then slammed to the ground, with Shinji on top. Shinji began beating the angel mercilessly, the beast of the Eva, and the heat of battle beginning to wash over him. The pure animal fury inside him would have been enough to scare Yui to death, if she hadn't already been dead.

The command crew ran out into the Geofront to watch the battle and see if they would be saved, or if today was their last. Asuka stood next to her ejected entry plug as did Rei, watching the beast destroy the angel.

The bloodlust became so intense that Shinji attempted to rip Zureal's face off.

Suddenly, Shinji and Yui were disconnected from Unit-01, the timer for the battery reserves flashed at 00:00:00.

"No."

"_SHIT!"_ Yui screamed, and with her in Shinji's mind like she was, she couldn't make Unit-01 go Berserker as she used to.

This wasn't good at all.

Unit-01 was picked up by the angel and thrown into the side of Nerv's central command pyramid. While the angel continued to attack Unit-01's core, Shinji started yelling at Unit-01 to move, trying to get it to activate by shear will alone. Yui was running through all possibilities to get her creation back in battle.

The only thing she could think of however, would require her at the core of the purple behemoth. Considering her current place of residence in Shinji's mind that would be impossible.

"_Damn it, the one time I could actually do some good from that prison and I can't. Forgive me, Shinji."_

As Shinji kept pleading for Unit-01 to work, he could hear the dull thuds from Zureal's attack inside the plug as cracks formed along the surface.

Suddenly, a new sound began to take over. It was no longer a pounding, but a beating; the beating of a heart. Shinji felt something around him, and passing through him as he began to feel a bit lightheaded. Yui knew this feeling well, she had experienced it once before.

It had been the last thing she had felt before Unit-01 took her.

_Oh dear God, NO! _

"Mother?" With that last word, Shinji Ikari became one with the Eva.

--

As Zureal, the 14th angel, was about to make the final killing blow to Unit-01, the purple monster reactivated. Zureal threw its ribbon like arm at Unit-01, victory seemingly with in its grasp. Unit-01 however had other ideas. She reached out at the approaching ribbon, and shredded it with its own fingers, reinforced by its powerful A.T. Field. The purple monster grabbed the arm and pulled the angel face to face with her, the horn on Unit-01's forehead dug deeply into Zureal's right eye socket. With a powerful kick Unit-01 throw the Angel back across the battlefield, keeping its left arm. Unit-01 brought the dismembered appendage up to the stump of its own left arm, where it changed into an almost human looking limb. Only one thought went through Misato's head.

_Shinji?_

Maya was looking at a laptop with the readings from Unit-01 displayed. What she saw should not have been possible.

"How is this possible, Shinji's sync ratio is over 400."

Unit-01 then swiped its arm across its body, sending a molecule thick A.T. Field towards Zureal. The blast sliced right through the angels A.T. field, and Zureal knocking him to the ground. Unit-01 began approaching the angel as if it were an ape; the animalistic way it moved towards its prey thoroughly disturbing the gathered Nerv crew. Unit-01 came face-to-face one last time with Zureal, the Angel of Might.

Zureal tried one last blast from its eyes, but before it could Unit-01 began to consume the angel. The Eva began to tear flesh and bone from the creature as if the Eva were a predator devouring its prey. As she did this, she took into herself the S2 organ, the heart of the angel. The souls of Yui and Shinji Ikari were aware of what was happening from their place merged with Unit-01. They could even taste the blood of the enemy on their lips, and feel the flesh of the angel slide down Unit-01's throat.

With the S2 organ settled within, the power of Unit-01 was fully unleashed as the armor was shattered and cast aside, all except for the iron mask that hid the Eva's face from view.

To Be Continued….

Ch 3. Author's notes: YOU LIKE ME! YOU REALLY LIKE ME! Thanks for all the support writing this fic. I'm JUST SO HAPPY!!! I'm not just writing a Yui getting even with Gendo fic though. I'm writing a Yui saving Shinji's soul fic. And no Nega-Darkwing, Gendo won't be that lucky. Also if anyone is interested in pre-reading for me I would appreciate it. I have four different Projects going and need people to help with grammar and ESPECIALLY spelling. If you see a name from Eva not spelled correctly let me know via e-mail.

Ch 4. Author's notes: YOU LIKE ME! YOU REALLY LIKE ME! Thanks for all the support writing this fic. I'm JUST SO HAPPY!!! I'm not just writing a Yui getting even with Gendo fic though. I'm writing a Yui saving Shinji's soul fic. And no Nega-Darkwing, Gendo won't be that lucky. Also if anyone is interested in pre-reading for me I would appreciate it. I have four different Projects going and need people to help with grammar and ESPECIALLY spelling. If you see a name from Eva not spelled correctly let me know via e-mail.

Second Edition notes: Well, I decided to combine Chapters 3 and 4 into this one since they were pretty short to begin with. I hope this will help thing expand as we go. I went threw a lot of trouble to redo the battle with the 14th to where it made more sense and had a much better flow with it. Also, I tried to make Shinji more in character then he was in the first part of the original chapter 3. Not only that, but I wanted to make Yui more sympathetic to Gendo then I had portrayed her being before. Same deal with Gendo. I had considerable Gendo-Bashing in the original version of this fic. I hope that with this redo I can make him seem more the tragic character then the megalomaniac I had him as before.

I'd like to thank my prereaders who helped a lot with this new version. TR, Sare, Isamu, Random1377, Angel17, Weltall Elite and Shinagami.

C&C is always welcome at: and 


	4. Music of the Soul /The Gift

A Soul Possessed

Chapter 4: Music of the Soul /The Gift 

By: Lord Deathscythe

Asuka lay in her room fuming, the battle with the 14th still a fresh wound to her pride. She had in her eyes failed again. It didn't matter that this angel had been the strongest so far, didn't matter that there had really been nothing she could of done differently. Al that mattered was that she had lost for the second time in a row, and that Shinji had defeated the angel even if he had gone berserker. That weak, perverted, cowardly idiot had beaten her. She couldn't believe that someone like him could out do her. 

_Idiot, waited until the last minute just so he could show me up. I'll show him, I don't need his cowardly ass! I can do this all alone!_

As she continued to mentally insult her fellow pilot and roommate, she heard a knock at the door. Since Misato was still at Nerv, and Shinji was currently the most spineless anyone had been since invertebrates dominated the world, Asuka was the only one there. So she went to the door and answered it, finding the man she at least thought she wanted. "KAJI!"

"Hello Asuka, I just stopped by to drop something off and to see how you're doing," said the man with the eternal Five O'clock shadow.

"I'm doing much better with you here, but what do you have to drop off?"

"Katsuragi asked me to bring these home, I don't know exactly what they are but she said to make sure they were placed on Shinji's desk." Saying that held up the musical score on plain white paper Shinji had been writing on. Asuka could see little notes next to the sheet music. 

"What is it?"

"It looks like music, but it may as well be MAGI code to me. I never did have the appreciation for the arts Shinji seems to."

"So, the Invincible Shinji thinks he's a composer now. What's next is he going to try to play the cello in Unit-01?"

"Asuka, the situation Shinji has found himself in is pretty serious. It's possible that he won't be coming back this time. I found some notes on the back of these pages, notes about you, Misato, Rei, even me. They could very well be his final words. I think you should look at them, if only for yourself. Trust me." 

_Why should I read what the Invincible Shinji wrote about me? Probably nothing but perverted crap, I should just to see how much I should beat him when he gets back. But what if it isn't perverted, what if it's all bad stuff. Why would I care what the Third Child thinks about me?! His opinion is completely irrelevant! But still it couldn't hurt, and I'm bored out of my skull anyway._

She took the pages and sat down on the couch. Asuka paged through, looking at the crudely drawn music and seeing little notations here and there. On the back of the fifth page she saw some notes concerning Rei. While she had deep acidic hatred of the First Child because of her unnerving disregard for her own life, curiosity of what Shinji had written about the albino girl got the best of her.

Shinji's notes were neat and precise, as most everything else he did. Even with out guiding lines his words stayed perfectly ordered. The notes read:

_ -Thoughts on Rei_

_I figure the best way to order the music for everyone it is best for me to write down what I think and feel about them. I'll start with Rei as her piece would come up first. Rei to me is for the most part a mystery, and enigma hidden among the enigma that is Eva. She's quite, almost disconnected from the world around her. It's fairly easy to forget she's around if your not paying attention. It's almost as if she's a ghost, passing through this world just watching. Her pale skin does a lot to fit this description. The first time I saw her she was horribly injured, but was still willing to get into Unit-01 after I had refused. Seeing her like that, then holding her trying to comfort her after she fell from the gurney they had rolled her in on had pushed me into Unit-01's entry plug for the first time, not knowing what I should do. As I've gotten to know her, as much as anyone can know Rei Ayanami, I've found that she's very strong on the inside. She goes out to face monsters alongside myself and Asuka and never flinches. And even though she may have said she would protect me before we fought the 5th Angel together, I feel I have to protect her as well. I know I love Rei, it's almost like she's my little sister even though we are the same age. I feel happy to know that the only other person beside Father she ever even smiles at has been me. Thinking about all this, her theme should be smooth and quiet. Very subtle, yet portraying the strength she holds beneath her calm surface._

After reading that Asuka was deep in thought. She had always had a suspicion that Shinji had feelings for the first child, but not the kind he had written about. She had thought that he was in love with her much more then he had said in his notes. – So he thinks of Wondergirl as a sister. Come to think of it they do look alike except for the hair and eyes. Here I thought he wanted to sleep with her and all that. So who's next on his list here? – 

_-Thoughts on Misato_

_What can one say about Misato Katsuragi? At home she is sloppy, lazy, drunk, and the biggest tease in the world. But when we go into battle she becomes all business. I never quite understood how she could switch so easily between roles, but I wouldn't have her any other way. She's like the family I never had, my big sister maybe. Maybe even a mother, I think she thinks of me the same way sometimes. I may hate piloting Eva, but it's worth it to come home to our little patchwork family everyday. She gave me a home when I first got here, lent an ear to me when I needed to talk, even made me laugh a few times when I really needed to. I think I should make her theme reflect that. At times almost bubbly, with a somber tone in parts working into a hard determined melody, something to reflect her quick thinking in battle, yet her strong concern over Asuka, Rei, and myself. _

This seemed a bit shocking to Asuka. She had never really thought of their guardian as more then her commanding officer. She hadn't allowed herself to think any of the things Shinji had written about so far. She began to wonder why he had written these things about Rei and Misato, yet never so much as spoke of them. It came to her that he probably never expected anyone to ever read these things, so he had felt more comfortable putting them into words. That these were his private thoughts and none of her business never entered her mind. With that she continued on.

_-Thoughts on Kaji_

If Misato were a mother to me, then Kaji would definitely be the father I never had. Ever since I met him and Asuka he has always seemed to find time to talk to me. He even tried to teach me how to pick up women, but I still haven't gotten the hang of that yet. Seeing him and Misato together just seems so right, almost an older version of Asuka and myself. I don't understand why Misato just doesn't admit how she feels about him. I could see them getting married, adopting me, and us all living in a small house somewhere far away from Angels and Evas. A place where we could just be a family. With Rei there as my sister, and Asuka… I'll go into her later. It'll take a bit more to get my feelings straight about my roommate and fellow pilot. But that's beside the point. Kaji's music should be fun to listen to, with a bit of the mystery he holds around himself. Maybe some saxophone for him like a jazzy sound. That would fit well for Nerv's number one lady-killer. 

Asuka was not happy with how Shinji felt Misato and Kaji were so right for each other as she read that. To her Kaji was meant to be with her, not the major. But what Shinji had said here about both of them, it made sense that he would think that. The other thing bothering her was that last line, when he avoided writing about her. What did that mean? 

"Probably thinks I'm not good enough for his little perfect world here. But Shinji didn't exclude me, he just put off writing about me. What does that mean? I guess I should go on to the next one." 

Asuka looked down at the next set of notes, and was very interested to see what he thought of that man.

-Thoughts on Father

What can one say about one of the biggest bastards ever to walk the earth. I've tried to hate him with every fiber of my being, but I just can't. Gendo Ikari is still my father, by blood if not by deed. I don't understand him, why would he abandon a child when he was needed most? Everyone is always telling me that I must not run away, but how can I be expected to do that when my father ran from me when he had the chance. I guess because I'm supposed to be a better man then him. That's probably why I can never bring myself to hate him; I'm not like that. Even if he hates me for whatever reason he has, I can never go that far. If I'm a coward for not wanting to fight and hurt people, what does that make a man who runs away like a coward from a five year old child. I could understand him sending me away because he was needed to help prepare for the angels, but he could have stayed with me until my damn escort showed up. He could have spent some time with me over the damn years, could even do something as simple as call me by my damn name. He won't even go that far, always referring to me as 'Pilot Ikari' or 'Third Child' but never as 'Shinji'. Why won't he fucking call me by my name? His music will be very dark and ominous, bringing a chill to the people who listen to it. It will reflect the cold-hearted man he became long ago.

Asuka read what Shinji felt about the commander, and was shocked. He had cursed more times on paper then he ever had in the flesh. She immediately began to wonder about how the commander's actions were so similar to her own fathers, after her mother had gone mad. How much of her life had been almost an exact mirror to Shinji Ikari's? How many things had they both gone through that had been so similar, yet they had never met each other until that day on the "Over The Rainbow"? Then she noticed the last name he wrote thoughts on. She debated if she really wanted to read those lines, if she should even consider it. Her curiosity won out in the end, and she read what she feared she may not want to know about Shinji Ikari.

-Thoughts on Asuka

After all this writing, getting my feelings straight about everyone else that's important to me, I find myself having problems with this one. What I feel for Asuka Langley Soryu, the Second Child, is not as easy to put into words as everyone else has been. There are times when she absolutely puzzles me, and times when she frightens me, and times when she completely stuns me. But more rarely, times when she does something that makes me think we might not be so different as we seem. The night before the battle with the Seventh Angel, when she fell into bed with me, I saw her shed a tear after she called for her mother. It had stopped me from kissing her, but had also showed me she's not the girl of steel and armor she pretends to be when she's awake. She may call me perverted, stupid, and a wimp but I just can't help what my heart feels for her. All the perverted things she accuses me of dreaming about Rei or any other girl we go to school with, she'd be surprised to know that I only have one dream about one person. I dream of just her and I on the hill over looking Tokyo-3, with her in my arms as we watch the sunset. It's not really that perverted, but it's when I have those dreams I'm the happiest. I wonder if she feels the same thing for me at all. Probably not, probably would rather be in Kaji's arms then mine any day. But I can dream, can't I? I can dream of a life with her, where we aren't fighting monsters, just happy together. Maybe even with a family of our own one day. I want her music to be very strong, very upbeat to reflect her energy and confidence. It should reflect the things about her I wish I had within myself. With some parts of the music soft and serine to reflect the fragile girl behind the mask of strength and anger. To reflect the girl that I think I'm truly in love with. 

To say Asuka was stunned reading that would be an understatement.

To say that everything she ever thought about Shinji Ikari had just been tossed into a blender and served to her in a light curry sauce may have been more accurate. Did he just, in writing meant for no ones eyes but his own, say that he loved her? She reread the section of paper, not noticing a single tear fall from her eyes and onto her shirt. She couldn't, wouldn't believe what she had just read. That idiot was nothing but a child, what did he know anyway. How could he even think about loving her, of all people? She didn't need his love; she didn't need anyone but herself. She'd tell that coward to his face the next time she saw him. She paused for a moment, when she realized that there might not be a next time, that he may never return to the apartment they shared. There was so much left unsaid between them, these writings were proof enough of that. The thought that she might never get to set the record straight with him caused more tears to fall. She angrily wiped her eyes, refusing to admit that she felt anything for him except contempt. But she couldn't fight her heart forever, and as she read the pages over and over her heart kept fighting harder against her mind. It would not let her fall back on rage and anger as she would normally. After she had read that section for the ninth time, she took the sheets of paper with the music and untold feelings to his room. She placed them on his desk, and then retreated to her small domain. When she got there, she collapsed on her bed and cried her eyes out. She fell asleep thinking of the boy who may never come back to her, never gain the courage to tell her himself what he had written. 

Someone had left her again, and she hadn't even told them that she loved them before they had.

--

In a place where time and space had no real meaning, Shinji Ikari floated in a state between reality and eternity. He didn't know where he was, couldn't tell if he was even himself anymore. Then through the empty expanse he found himself on the hill over looking Tokyo-3. It was sunset, the time when the building would be brought up from their concrete tombs to reach out into the night, to signal that Tokyo-3 had stood for another day against the Angels. Shinji looked around him, wondering how he had arrived in that spot. Then he caught two people out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see who they were. He was stunned to see himself leaning against a nearby tree, with Asuka lying in his arms, wearing her favorite yellow dress. He couldn't understand, how could he be there and standing where he was at the same time. It reminded him of his dream, but that wasn't possible. He had never been an observer in that dream, had never watched himself and Asuka sitting together like that. His reflection on this odd twist in reality was interrupted by a voice he had not heard in a very long time.

"This is a good dream you have here," said a voice Shinji instantly remembered. 

He turned around quickly, to find a woman about Misato's age standing by the railing. She looked like Rei but older and with brown hair and bright green eyes that looked hauntingly familiar. The woman looked at him, a sad look of someone who regretted a considerable deal of things. She wore a white lab coat over her pink shirt and black slacks, and had her hands in the coats pockets. 

Shinji slowly approached her, not certain if he was going mad or dreaming. When he got closer to her, he could see tears brimming over in her eyes and could feel them in his own as well. He had not seen his mother in what seemed like an eternity, but knew who this woman was just by looking at her. He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her.

They stood there hugging each other and crying tears of joy for being reunited after much too long.

Yui knew they couldn't stay like that for too long, but she didn't care. She hadn't seen her son like this in so very long, only through his eyes or the eyes of Unit-01. Not as a mother holding her son. After she had pulled herself together, she pulled Shinji away so she could look at him. He looked so much like Gendo, so much like the man he had been before she had been taken by her own creation.

She wiped Shinji's tears away with the back of her right hand, ignoring her own. It amazed her how much she had missed of her son's life, and saddened her about how much she would miss when this nightmare was all over.

"You've grown so much since I last saw you. I wish I had gotten to see you grow up, see you go on your first date, all those first's I missed. I'm so sorry I left you when you needed me." Yui told him. Her tears came readily, the thought that her death had been the beginning of so much pain for her son ripped at her heart. Shinji looked at her, trying to memorize every line and curve of her face. 

"I've missed you, Mother. I never thought I'd get a chance to see you again. When you died, I thought you were gone forever. How did you come back?" Shinji asked, his choked sobs catching his words in his throat. He had felt a presence with him when he had gone into battle, when he sat in his entry plug that reminded him of being held be this woman. It was nothing compared to the actual feeling of his mothers arms around him.

"I never really left, I've been trapped in Unit-01 for all this time. I only saw the world through its eyes, could only touch you when you were in its entry plug. I finally was able to break through before you died in the twelfth angel. I couldn't let you go before you had a chance at a real life. I've seen your memories of the past, after my accident. Your father used to be a good man. He loved you so much and I wish we had both been able to be with you. I had hoped he would have taken care of you, and Eva be damned, but I had always hoped he would have been there for you. I know that's not what happened, and I'm sorry you've had to be alone for so long.

"But he changed. I don't know why, but he couldn't deal with my loss. He ran from you and into his work to try to escape the pain in his own heart. You probably don't know this, but the Ikari name is mine. He took it after we were wed. You share my name, not his. His name was Gendo Rokubungi when I met him, and that's the man I fell in love with. Commander Gendo Ikari though, he is defiantly not the same. I'm telling you this because… because I want you to know the he was at one time happy to be your father."

Shinji took what his mother told him, and understood. He knew her death had hurt him immensely, but his father had been hurt as well. Were they so similar that they could have repelled each other? If he had been in the same position, would Shinji have done the same thing? He knew the answer was no, Shinji Ikari would never abandon anyone close to him. 

But Shinji was not Gendo. Shinji knew he couldn't abandon someone because he knew how it felt. He knew he had people with him who cared. His father…

Yui wiped some of her tears away, continuing on with clear eyes so she could see her son.

"I wish I could come back and see you grow up, but I can't. I just want you to know that I love you so much, and I will always be with you even in death. Also, I have a gift for you, the only gift I have left to give. You have to go back now, back to the people in the real world. You won't remember any of this, but you will remember the important things. You'll remember how much I love you, and how things were before I was taken. I hope you get to have that family you so yearn for with Asuka, and maybe my final gift will help you deal with things that will come soon." Yui had problems finishing what she had to say to her son. She knew when they pulled him out that she would once again be confined to the back of his mind, to only see him through his own eyes. She then decided to alter her plans a bit

"I don't want to leave you again," Shinji said, trying to hold back his tears. He had just found her again; he didn't want to lose her now.

"We don't have a choice, and I will always be with you. I want you to grow up and have a very good life out there. This war will be over eventually, and you will have the chance to do anything you want. Anywhere can be heaven so long as you're happy. Just remember that what ever you do, where ever you go, I will always be proud of you my son." With that she kissed him on his forehead, then hugged him one last time. The world around them began to dissolve, and all that was left was blackness.

--

It had been a long procedure, and it had looked as if Shinji wouldn't make it through this time, but once again the Third Child had beaten the odds and had survived his ordeal with little more then a stay in the hospital. Ritsuko had taken blood and tissue samples to see if there had been any adverse effects to his stay within Unit-01. She was going over the reports from those tests when something caught her eyes. The genetic sequencing report held a startling revelation for the good doctor. She had had the test run to see if the reconstruction of Shinji's body had caused any damage to his DNA, since they had rebuilt him from the cellular level. She hadn't expected what she found in this report though. Shinji's DNA had been completely jumbled and resequenced, to where it almost didn't look like his. Ritsuko turned to her terminal and began entering commands.

-MAGI DNA ANALYSIS SHINJI IKARI

-COMPARE DNA SAMPLE LABLED A358B22 TO SAMPLE LABLED A02C32

-DNA ANALYSIS COMPLETE

-SAMPLE A35B22 DEVIATES FROM SAMPLE A02C32 BY 66%

This stunned Ritsuko, Shinji's DNA shouldn't have been that off without some adverse physical effects. If anything he should have shown some change in his physical structure if the genetic level was changed that much. She decided to run another test

-MAGI DNA ANALYSIS

-DISPLAY GENETIC ANCESTORY OF SHINJI IKARI

-GENETIC ANCESTORY: YUI IKARI, MISATO KATSURAGI, RYOJI KAJI

This didn't make sense at all. Shinji should of only had two parents even if his DNA had been altered, and how did Misato and Kaji become those parents. It should have read Gendo and Yui Ikari, but the commander wasn't even mentioned.

-MAGI DNA ANALYSIS

-COMPARE DNA SEQUENCES OF SHINJI IKARI AND GENDO IKARI

-ANALYSIS COMPLETE

-MATCH PERCENTAGE: 0%

"What the hell. The commander's DNA has been completely removed from him. But how is that possible?"

-MAGI ERROR PERCENTAGE ON DNA ANALYSIS OF SHINJI IKARI AND PREVIOUS INQUIERIES

-MAGI ERROR PERCENTAGE: 0.000000001%

"An 0-9 response, MAGI is conclusive. But how did this happen? How did Misato and Kaji become Shinji's genetic parents? And where did the commanders DNA go? It doesn't make sense. I need to tell Misato and Kaji, they have to know this before the commander finds out." Ritsuko thought to herself. Then she started working on the MAGI one last time.

-MAGI ERASE ALL INQUIRES TO THIS POINT ON DNA OF SHINJI IKARI

-PLACE ALL FILES CONCERNING DNA ANALYSIS OF SHINJI IKARI IN PROTECTED STORAGE A5

-PASSWORD: MOTHER

-ALL INQUIRES ON DNA OF SHINJI IKARI… ERASED

-FILES ON DNA ANALYSIS OF SHINJI IKARI PLACED IN PROTECTED STORAGE A5

After making sure that the MAGI had completed its task, Ritsuko picked up her phone and called Misato. She had a good idea that Kaji would probably be with her.

--

Misato and Kaji walked into Ritsuko's office, not knowing what the doctor wanted of them. When they entered her office they saw a woman with a tired expression. Ritsuko was going on 72 hours no sleep; the only thing keeping her awake was coffee and cigarettes. Ritsuko motioned for them to sit as she finished up her report. She turned to them as she finished up, "Well, I've got weird news, and downright bizarre news. Which do you want first?"

"There's a difference around here?" Kaji answered smugly.

"I'll take that as give me the weird news first. I guess the best way to say it is congratulations you two."

Misato wasn't following the doctor's odd comments. She registered weird news and congratulations, beyond that it didn't make sense to her. 

Kaji was a little quicker on the uptake, and was a bit concerned by her choice of words. 

The only time he ever knew a doctor of any kind to use the word "congratulations," it was usually to tell a couple they were going to be… but wait, he and Misato hadn't done anything like THAT in eight years, except for tonight. 

Seeing the freaked out look on Kaji's face, and the clueless expression on Misato, Ritsuko continued on, "You two are now parents."

This caused Kaji to sweat even more. This was weirder then he could have imagined. Misato had just registered the good doctors words and was shocked, "I'm pregnant?"

Ritsuko let them stew for a few more seconds, enjoying how they just squirmed at the thought of Misato being with child. After a few seconds Ritsuko decided they had suffered enough and clarified. 

"To be specific, you two are now the proud parents of a fourteen year old pilot of Evangelion Unit-01. This is where the bizarre news comes in."

After Misato and Kaji's blood pressure returned to normal she continued.

"I don't know how, but Shinji's DNA has been almost completely rewritten so that you two are his biological parents. What's more I can't find a single strand from Commander Ikari. How this happened I don't know. All I know is that for all intents and purposes, you two are Shinji's parents." Ritsuko told them, leaving out that Yui Ikari's DNA was still a part of Shinji's genetic make-up.

"But I thought when you rebuilt him in Unit-01 that he would be the same. Why didn't he change at all, he doesn't even have anything different about his hair let alone anything that resembles us."

"Like I said I don't know. I don't even know how your DNA profiles were put into the mix, let alone be able to explain why."

"We should try to keep this information away from Commander Ikari. I'd rather not think about what he'd do if he found out his son was no longer his son." Kaji suggested, concerned for the boys safety as well as Misato's. Misato picked up on what Kaji was thinking, and immediately concurred. She would have to go check on him quickly to see if the commander had found out, and if Shinji hadn't already been hurt in some way.

"I wouldn't worry about Shinji, right now he's the only one who can pilot Unit-01 and the commander needs him. You two however had better watch your backs. He might find it necessary to have one of you killed so that his plans aren't side tracked. If Shinji were to become only loyal to either of you and not him he might want to remove you both from the equation. Also, I wouldn't tell Shinji about this. It could put undue stress on him and lead to a severe mental breakdown, since this could completely undermine his sense of self."

Kaji and Misato understood what they were being told. The commander, while not injuring Shinji directly, could do it by having either herself or Kaji erased. They both felt a cold shiver go up their spines at the idea of Shinji losing one of them now.

To Be Continued….

Authors Notes: Sorry about the delay with this part, but life gets in the way. I've been busy working on the new site at _www.darkscribes.org_ and have been trying my hardest to get this out to you all. I'd like to thank Ryan T. Nelson and Random1377 for their help pre-reading this chapter. The next one shouldn't be too long from now, as it is practically written already. And that one will have a special guest author on it for their help. I won't tell you though; you'll just have to wait.

Revised edition notes: Well, here is the final redone chapter of "A Soul Possessed" before I start the new fifth chapter. In this one, I wanted to make Gendo a more sympathetic character. I wanted to have Yui be sad by what had happened on the outside, but still love Gendo even if he had gone cold. Honestly who knows how any of us would react? I can't say as I know. I hope I've toned the Gendo-bashing down to acceptable levels here. And if I haven't I'll make it up in a fic I'm working on. You remember "A Debt Repaid"? Well, I'm following it up with two or three more. I hope they are as powerful as the original.

C & C welcome at _ld25@msn.com_ and _webmaster@darkscribes.org_

Later all.


	5. Triumvirate of the Damned

A Soul Possessed

Chapter 5: Triumvirate of the Damned

By: Lord Deathscythe

Special Guest Author: Random1377

Disclaimer: see part 1

It had been five days since Shinji had returned from the hospital after his stay in Unit-01, and almost a month since Asuka had read the notes in his symphony. 

She had avoided being alone with him as much as possible, not sure what she would do if they were alone. Would she attack him and beat him to death so he would see how foolish it was to love her? Or, would she jump him and hold him tight so he could never leave her? She didn't know, and that scared her more then anything she had ever known. She admitted it, she was afraid of what could happen between them. There was no way she could deny that after what she had read. The question was what she should do about it, if anything. 

Should she see if he would return any sort of advance she made? Should she just go about things like normal and let him make the first move? Should she just come right out and beat the crap out of him so that he would never get the idea to approach her? She just didn't know… and it was driving her crazy.

What was driving almost as crazy as her little dilemma was that Shinji had been acting… differently of late. While he was still a bit shy, he had not apologized for any seemingly small things of late. He had said he was sorry one night to her, but that was because he had tripped and spilt a glass of water on her. Other then that he just let everything go. He wasn't any less polite, just less ready to take the blame for things. Also she had notice his hair was a bit different, the roots had a distinctly black hue to them. She knew he wasn't the sort of person to dye his hair, or to do anything out of the ordinary. There was no real explanation for it. Asuka did know she had seen that shade of black hair somewhere before this; it was unmistakable whose hair it was starting to look like. 

It was starting to look almost exactly like Misato's. 

What had happened while he was in Unit-01? 

Asuka knew something had happened, but couldn't figure out whatever it was that had been. His features were slowly; almost unnoticeable to anyone who wasn't looking, changing. Nothing too extreme, he still looked like the Shinji Ikari she had met on the "Over the Rainbow" but some things were different. All she could do in regards to those changes were to keep watch, and to make sure nothing dangerous happened to the Third Child.

                                                                                                                                          --        

Asuka hadn't been the only one to notice these changes; Rei Ayanami had noticed some of these changes as well and did not understand how they could have occurred. Something wasn't… correct about Ikari. Something she just couldn't place what had changed about him.

It was… disturbing. 

It wasn't his appearance, the black highlights that had shown in his hair of late, or even the change in his demeanor. Ikari had been changing ever since she had first met him, now the changes had become much more apparent. It was if he were a different person then the boy she had met before the Third Angel had attacked. 

The Commander needed to know about this. But would what he told her to do be in Ikari's best interest? 

For the first time in her life, Rei knew the commander wasn't the solution for this problem.

_I must speak with Sohryu. She lives with Ikari and would have noticed anything out of the ordinary._

Set on a plan of action, Rei left her apartment determined to discover any clues she could from the Second Child.

--

"You're late," Kaji murmured, smiling as he looked towards the door.  His smile turned sorrowful as the woman in the doorway slowly brought her arms out from behind her back, levelling her service pistol at his chest.

"Kaji…" she sobbed, leveling the gun, "I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…" she drew the hammer back. "Please forgive me… please…" 

He sighed, "I know, Misato…" he said, meeting her eyes calmly, "I know you have no choice…" 

More tears streamed down her face as she slowly drew the trigger back, never taking her eyes off of his.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a soft voice said from the shadows.

Misato was so wound up that she jerked to the side, pulling the trigger the rest of the way. 

To his credit, though the bullet whistled past his ear and buried itself in the wall, Kaji only flinched slightly.

"What's the matter Major?" the voice asked quietly, "You seem a little tense. Could it be that my husband ordered you to kill someone you love?"

Misato whipped the gun around, "Shinji!?" she said with a gasp, "What…?"

"Sorry, Shinji's not in right now, but if you leave your name and number I'll be sure he gets back to you"

The purple haired woman blinked and turned the gun back to Kaji, who was watching the exchange with a look of confusion, "What are you doing here?" she asked the boy, starting to sweat under the strain, "You… shouldn't be here…"

As the small form exited the shadows, something happened. Misato and Kaji both started, their shock greater than seeing Unit-01 go berserk as Shinji's face and body seemed to… shift, until the boy's countenance became that of an older, brown-haired Rei.

"Because I need your help to save my son," came the calm reply.

Misato whipped the gun back and forth between the woman in front of her and the man she loved… and had be ordered to kill, "What's… what's going on?" she whispered, taking another step back.

Kaji frowned, then his eyes widened in recognition, "Misses Ikari, I presume?"

Misato blinked, "What?"

"You know of me Mr. Kaji," the woman said, inclining her head in a slight nod, "I'm flattered."

Kaji shrugged, giving Misato a sideways glance as she continued trying to keep a bead on both of them, "In my line of work, you… see things and hear things people don't want you to. I recognized you from an old Gehirn staff photo."

"But…But Yui Ikari is dead," Misato sputtered, "she's been dead for nearly 11 years now."

"It's true…" Yui sighed, "I AM dead in the most technical sense of the word…" She smiled ruefully, "It's amazing what a ghost can really do, isn't it Major."

Misato Katsuragi was not the fainting kind… but she came very close at Yui's words, feeling the world go slightly gray, "What?" she repeated.

Yui regarded Misato and Kaji intently, "You know, I should thank both of you. You've been there for my son since he came here. Taking the roles I was stripped of and Gendo abandoned."

Kaji took a tentative step towards the jittery major, "Well," he said coolly, "he's a good kid… I'm just sorry I couldn't do more for him." He took another step, but Misato brought the gun up, now shaking terribly. 

"What's going on?" she whispered, looking from one to the other for an explanation, "please… I don't understand…"

"It's really quite simple, Major," Yui said calmly, "And you might want to lower your gun seeing how you're shaking so much." 

She stepped closer to the purple-haired woman. 

"Remember how Shinji was absorbed by Unit-01?" she waited for the nod of acknowledgment before continuing, "Well lets just say 'Like mother like son'. I was fully absorbed by Unit-01 that day in 2005. During my son's stay inside the Sea of Dirac I was able to link my consciousness with his. He doesn't know I'm in here though." She shrugged as she concluded, "While he was in Unit-01 though I made a slight alteration to him, giving myself the ability to take my old shape for when I give Gendo my final going away present. In simplest of terms, I'm possessing Shinji."

Misato frowned, coming to some sort of grips with the massive amount of impossible sounding data she had just been fed… and finding her focus in anger. "Possessed?" she asked softly, narrowing her eyes, "MY Shinji?"

Kaji recognized that the Major was growing defensive -- the worst possible reaction out of all those possible, and knew he had to try and diffuse her before someone got killed, "Well, Misato," he said as calmly as he could, "TECHNICALLY he was HER Shinji first…"

"It's okay," Yui said calmly, "I understand how you're feeling right now major… but you don't want to shot me."

Misato frowned, letting her anger build, "And why not?" 

Kaji took another cautious step towards her, "Because you'd be killing Shinji too…" he answered for the scientist, "she's IN Shinji's body… it would kill him too." 

"Now if you would put down your gun," Yui said quietly, "we can start talking business."

Kaji stepped to the side, putting himself between the two women, "Hey, Katsuragi…" he said softly, "if you have to shoot someone… shoot me." he met her eyes steadily, "You were going to anyway." 

Yui nodded, commenting, "I would prefer, however, that everyone here remained alive for the time being… that way, we can save both of the Children and make sure that the Commander pays for what he's done."

Misato ignored her, staring instead into Kaji's eyes, struggling to speak. "I…" she began, an intense war being fought inside her mind as love and honor clashed almost audibly, and every emotion conceivable flashed across her face. Finally, the gun fell from her hands and clattered to the floor as she dropped to her knees, sobbing, "Oh Kaji! I didn't want to! Please… I didn't want to!!!"

"I know you didn't," he said, kneeling and taking her in his arms, "it's ok… shhhh…" he stroked her hair as she wept, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his shirt.

Yui approached the two, dropping to the floor alongside them. She waited until Misato had calmed somewhat before speaking softly, "My husband has done much… harm," she began, choosing her words carefully, "but I think it's not too late to set things right." She sighed, "I don't think I can do it alone… will you help me? I know that you both care for Shinji… if you won't do it for me -- or all of humanity -- will you do it for him?"

Misato wiped her eyes, "For him…" she whispered fiercely, "only for him, and for what he's had to do to survive…" her eyes dropped to the floor, "he's… he's better than any of us…" she whispered, "he deserves more." 

Kaji pulled her closer to him. "Well," he said, a touch shakily, "since my calendar seems to be clear -- almost permanently," He grinned at Yui, "and thank you, by the way, there's nothing I'd like better than to help… but it'll need to be from the shadows." He lifted Misato's face to look into her eyes, "And it would be best if you reported your mission successful, eh?" She nodded, frowning slightly as she thought of the countless, loyal NERV replacements that would not hesitate to finish what she had started.

"Good," Yui said approvingly, "because I'll need both of you. Part of what I've been doing has been to try to help my son – I'm sure you've noticed some of the changes, but I'm afraid there is still much to be done." She sighed. "The other part is to try to stop the wheels I set in motion with Unit-01's creation. Luckily my old security codes were never erased and my clearance was as high as Gendos." She grinned, pulling a disk out of her pocket and offering it to Kaji, "It still is in fact." Her smile fell away. "Here's everything I've been able to find so far," she said softy, "and trust me when I say that Armageddon would be more fun then what Gendo has in store for humanity."

Kaji took the disk, eyeing it with a frown, "I'll see what I can do to throw as many monkey wrenches in the works as I can." He pocketed the disk and took Misato's hand in his. 

"What do you need from me?" Misato asked quietly, finding herself unable to meet the other woman's eyes. 

"I need you to do what you've been doing," the woman answered, "helping my son. You're like the mother I never had the chance to be. And I want you to keep an eye on Dr. Akagi. I'm not sure, but she might suspect something is going on. And if she does, who knows what she'll do." She frowned. "She's too much like her mother for my tastes."

Misato looked at her in surprise at the unexpected compliment, "Th-thank you…" she said, blushing slightly as she went on, "I… he's been like a son to me… I hate seeing him hurt…" 

Kaji cleared his throat, "Well, if there's nothing else, do you think you might excuse us, Doctor Ikari?" He smiled broadly, "Since I won't be able to see the young Miss Katsuragi here very often, I'd like to take advantage of this quiet time to… discuss a few private matters…" 

Misato tried to give him a frown, but the corners of her mouth twitched up, "Very subtle…" she mumbled, making Yui laugh. 

In spite of the Major's words, Yui noticed the way her arm slid around Kaji's waist and pulled him against her side… and the way she leaned closer with a barely audible, content sigh. 

She smiled, _Maybe__ there IS hope after all…_ she thought, _these are good people…_

"Of course," the woman said ironically, "I'll see you at home Major, but you won't see me." She shook her head, "I need to put Shinji here to bed," she concluded with a bit of humor in her voice

As she turned to leave Misato callout, "Wait!" Yui turned back as Shinji's guardian rose to her feet and stood in front of her. Slowly, she extended her hand, "Thank you…" she said quietly, "thank you for stopping me…"

"You're… welcome," the other woman answered, suddenly awkward.

With that, she departed.

As she stole out of the dark warehouse where this new alliance had been formed she reverted back to Shinji's form. "_I think things will be just fine," she thought with a trace of hopefulness, "__Shinji will be in good hands when this is all over… I just hope no one gets hurt in all this…"_

She knew this was a vain hope. In a battle of espionage, betrayals, and switching allegiances, there were bound to be some casualties. 

And though it struck her as selfish just then, her only prayer at that moment was that her son… was not one of them.

--

As the night went on, Asuka could find no center in her mind. Everything was a raging storm with no calm place to find shelter from. The First Child's appearance at her door had not helped any, and had in fact added to her internal conflict. What Wondergirl had wanted was shocking to say the least, but in a way was a relief for Asuka. At least someone else was noticing the changes in Shinji. 

That wasn't what bothered her though about the visit. It had been what Rei had said.

_"I advise you to keep watch over Ikari. This change may not be by of his own accord, and it could be very dangerous for him."_

Rei's warning was like so many things the pale girl said, infuriating. Unfortunately, she was also right. They had agreed that something had happened to the Third Child, but neither had any idea as to what that was. The only way to find out was to keep an eye on him at all times when they could. If something were happening that was bad though, it could already be too late.

This entire event still didn't help Asuka with her earlier problem, the notes she had read. The more she thought about it, the harder it was to keep her self from admitting to itself that she may have felt the same for him. 

She tried to harden the wall she had around her heart again, like a soldier fortifying a wall against an enemy. She couldn't let it crack or someone would hurt her again. She never wanted to be hurt again. But that wall had cracks, large cracks that were starting to crumble. Eventually, she wouldn't be able to protect herself anymore. Not like that.

All because of a few words scribbled on a piece of paper.

The front door opened, bringing Asuka out of her thoughts. It was a short respite as the person who entered had in fact been Shinji. She didn't want him to think she was looking in on him, so she simply listened to the door. She could hear him moving to the bathroom, and decided that he was about to go to bed. Asuka moved away from the door and headed to her own mattress when she heard something. Something that would haunt her dreams that night.

A scream filled with complete, soul killing terror.

Asuka ran out of her room as fast as she could. If something had happened it might have taken it's toll on him already. It could be too late to save Shinji from what ever this was.

As she got to the bathroom, she stopped. What Asuka saw left her almost speechless. Even then only two words left her mouth in a horrified whisper.

"Mien Gott…"

Before her stood Shinji, but his appearance had changed more dramatically then she could have imagined. His hair had gone from the chestnut brown it had been to a dark black. Not only that but it had grown down to his shoulders. On his face, she could see the shadow of facial hair that had grown. It looked like he hadn't shaved in two days. The fact that it had grown at all was amazing as Shinji had never needed to. 

Shinji turned his head towards Asuka to look at her, revealing the most stunning change. 

"What's happening to me?" Shinji said, his voice full of fear. The fear that Asuka could see in his eyes…

His bright green eyes.

To be Continued…

Authors notes: Been working on this one for a HELL of a long time. Had to go through and scrub the Gendo Bashing as much as possible, which took forever. Also had to get the Yui/Kaji/Misato scene just right. Random did a lot of helping with that scene. A HELL OF A LOT! Good on you Random. HOOAHH!

I'll start work on the next chapter as soon as possible, and it should be good. Got the 15th coming next… there is a nightmare to write for.

As always, C&C to webmaster@darkscribes.org

Later,

Lord Legato Deathscythe

Prereaders: SDB, Random


	6. Shift

A Soul Possessed

Chapter 6: Shift

By: Lord Legato Deathscythe

It had taken Asuka nearly an hour to calm Shinji down enough so she could get him to sleep. He had finally passed out on the couch from exhaustion after being lead there by the Second Child. Now all Asuka could do was wait. She had tried to reach Misato, but for some reason their guardian's cell phone was out of range. Asuka didn't think it a good idea to call Ritsuko yet, or Rei. So Asuka watched Shinji as he slept.

Why was she helping him? Why had she even cared about whether he was alright or not? This was just Shinji, just plain old Shinji. One glance at the boy's now longer black hair proved otherwise. What was happening was absolutely terrifying. Even now as she watched Shinji, Asuka could see some subtle changes in his face. The minor shifting of his jaw line, the slight widening of his eyes. Though none of it compared to the shock she had when she looked into once dark blue eyes now bright green. His eyes…

Asuka shuddered as she remembered the look in Shinji's eyes. It wasn't the usual open look he always had. Nor had it been the look of anger she was so used to seeing in her own. There was nothing there, nothing but pure terror.

Asuka ran her fingers through Shinji's hair, pulling it away from his face. In this sleep devoid of dreams and nightmares, of pure fatigue, the child that Shinji and herself had been denied shown through. Asuka could see it. It almost made her wish she could see this side more often. She wanted to see the side of Shinji Ikari that didn't need to apologize to the point of blaming his own existence for pain. It was the side that wasn't a warrior for humanity. Who didn't have to go through something so inconceivable even by their standards that the terror ate into his very soul. It was the side that was just a boy, nothing else but that.

The sound of the front door opening startled Asuka from her reflections. Misato had finally gotten home from work. Asuka made her way to the door as quickly as she could, but when she got there what she saw didn't encourage her. Misato looked horrible, her eyes were red and she looked more like she had just been through the worst heartbreak in her life. Asuka didn't have the luxury of giving Misato a chance to rest just yet.

"Misato, we have a problem."

"Asuka, now isn't a good time to talk about your sync scores," Misato said tiredly, assuming this had to do with Asuka's recent drops during the tests.

"This isn't about that. It's about Shinji. Something is seriously wrong with him."

Asuka seemed genuine about the situation. She was agitated but her worry for Shinji in anyway didn't compute in Misato's brain really. However, what she had seen earlier gave cause for the Major's concern.

"What's wrong with Shinji?"

"I can't tell you, you have to see it for yourself."

Asuka lead Misato to the living room and let her get a good look at Shinji as he slept. Misato was shocked at what she was seeing.

"He came in earlier tonight from somewhere and went to the bathroom. I was about to go to sleep when I heard him scream. I found him staring at himself in the mirror looking exactly like this. Even his eyes were different," Asuka broke off.

This could only get worse.

"You seem awfully worried about this Asuka. I'm surprised you even care."

"You didn't see what I saw Misato. I looked into his eyes, and I have never seen the kind of fear I saw in his eyes tonight. Hell, I've never seen anything like this in my life either. What the Hell is going on?"

"Asuka..." Misato took a deep breath. "I don't know what's happening myself. All I know is that something... something happened that month when he was trapped inside the EVA. I don't know what happened, but we are going to find out."

"Do you think this might…," Asuka didn't even want to finish that sentence. 

"I hope not," was all Misato said before she laid a blanket over the boy. Neither of the two women dared move him for fear of waking him back into this living nightmare.

So there Shinji slept a restless sleep, while Asuka kept her silent vigil into the night. 

--

The rain fell in sheets over Tokyo-03, while the light rapping of each drop resounded to form a sort of staccato thrumming they could not blot out the sound of the Angel alarms. The city had been totally deserted as the civilians ran for their shelters, giving Tokyo-03 the feel of a land not of people, but of death.

Unit-03 remained unusable as Section-1 still had yet to finish repairs. They had been slower then usual due to fears that the thirteenth angel could be revived. All Touji could do at the moment was sit in Command watching as Unit's 00 and 02 were prepared for launch.

Shinji was sitting in Unit-01's entry plug, but the Eva had not been activated. Due to its consumption of the fourteenth's S2 organ, no one knew what would happen if the Eva was activated. And without a failsafe to cut the power off, no one dared risk it unless they absolutely had too.

"Rei, I want you to take point on this. You're the best with the long-range shots. Asuka, you back her up. And I don't want to hear any arguments about it."

If Asuka didn't have other things on her mind, she may have argued more. As it was all she did was acknowledge the order and prepared to launch. She just couldn't get that morning out of her head.

--

Asuka had woken up slowly, her neck and back both protesting her position in the recliner as she stretched out her body. She had slept there all night keeping a silent vigil over the Third Child in case something else befell him. It had seemed warmer then she thought it should be, until she saw the blanket that had been carefully draped over her. The couch was empty, leaving Asuka to conclude that Shinji must have covered her up.

The sounds of rain falling outside, and running water were the only sounds that came to her ears. Dark storm clouds hovered over the city, mirroring the mood that had settled over the small apartment. The lights had been left off, leaving the entire room in a dim murky illumination from what little sunlight had filtered through the clouds. Only a ray of light from the bathroom broke the dull atmosphere. 

Asuka followed the light to its source, and found Shinji starring at himself in the mirror. Even with what she had seen last night, it was still a shock to the young woman to see him as he was now. Now that she could take a longer look at him without the urgency she had felt last night, she noticed something very important. 

Despite the change in his hair color and the shifting of his jawline, the face was still Shinji's. With all the small differences that had changed, they hadn't taken from the face she knew. If anything, the new changes had enhanced what had always been there. 

She didn't move, didn't make a sound, just watched as Shinji splashed some cold water over his face. After he wiped the water from his eyes he just stared at himself in the mirror. His hand went to his face and slowly ran across the now rough patches of hair growing there. 

"I'll have to shave this off, can't end up looking like father." he muttered.

"I don't know, like that you look more like Kaji then the commander," Asuka said. Shinji didn't jump at Asuka's voice, and to his credit just keep looking himself over. 

"I'm defiantly going to need a haircut. I don't want to have hair like Misato's."

"Well, you could always just wear it in a pony tail like Kaji. He seems to handle his hair just fine."

"I'm not Kaji though..." Shinji said, his voice rising at the idea he should be someone he wasn't.

"No, you aren't. You aren't the Commander either, you're just who you are."

Shinji let out a low chuckle of contempt, "No, I'm not either of them, and looking in the mirror now I don't even know if I am who I am. The face in the mirror doesn't look like me."

Asuka walked up beside him and looked in the mirror as well. She couldn't see through Shinji's eyes, but what her eyes showed her set her course of action. She stood behind him, and softly laid her hands on the sides of his face.

Shinji almost jumped at the soft touch he was so unused to. The look on Asuka's face however reassured him she wasn't going to attack him. She just ran her fingers over the features that she saw. Slowly she became familiar with every aspect of this face.

"It's still you, nothings really changed. It's just enhanced in a way, enough to where you look different then you did yesterday. But it's still you, right down to the tip of your chin," she said, keeping her voice quiet.

"But what did this? Why? Why are my eyes different now?"

Asuka turned him around and looked in his eyes. Even though the color was different now, she could see the same look in them they always had before today.

"They are the same, just the color is different. I don't know what's happening, I don't think I would even understand it if I did. But I do know that you won't have to deal with this alone. We haven't always been friends, but we've never really been enemies. Whatever happens, I'll stand beside you as best I can."

Shinji's lips curved up into a light smile as a single tear ran down his cheek, "You mean that?"

Asuka pulled him into her arms, trying to give him some of the strength she felt herself, "I promise."

--

"Unit-02, in position," Asuka reported. Unit-02 had been launched to the west side of the city while Unit-00 was in the center. Both of the Evangelions had been armed with positron rifles, and now drew their targets on the Angel currently in orbit. Unfortunately the Angel had remained outside of firing range.

"Keep sharp, as soon as the Angel comes into range open fire," Misato said over the com system. Asuka just kept her eyes on the Angel.

It was in it's own way beautiful, Asuka thought. The shape of a snowflake almost that glowed in the night. She kept her eyes on the range finder as the Angel began to move. Before Asuka knew it she was engulfed in the brightest light she had ever known. Then the memories began assaulting her, one after another. The last thing anyone in Command heard from her that day was the sound of her screams as the Fifteenth Angel began to rape her mind. 

--

Shinji couldn't bare this anymore. He was kept powerless to help Asuka as she was assaulted by one bad memory after another. He fought to keep his calm as he pleaded to be sent up to the surface. The Commander's response had done nothing but anger him.

"We cannot risk contamination to Unit-01," he had said.

Yui could feel the rage building in her son as she watched from her place in the back of her mind. She didn't want to make him endure this, but she also knew there was nothing to be done. He couldn't just go up there, he'd become a target himself.

What happened next shocked the ghost of Unit-01 as well as everyone in NERV Central. Unit-01 activated, and began straining against the restraints holding it in place.

"_How is this possible?" Yui thought franticly._

"Unit-01, stand down now!" Commander Ikari ordered.

"Command, you have a problem. You see, my friend is up there getting her mind torn through. Now you have two choices, one is to launch me up there so I can do something. The other is to deal with the repair bill when I get free. Unit-01 out," Shinji said. 

Touji watched the screen as the deck began to shake from Unit-01's attempts to escape. Everyone was in a commotion as he walked over to Misato's side.

"How did he activate his Eva himself? I didn't think he was suppose to be able to do that," Touji asked in awe.

All Misato could say was, "I don't know."

--

Commander Ikari was enraged at the insubordination the Third Child was displaying. Unit-01 was too valuable to risk just for the Second Child. She wasn't important. However, the continued shaking of the deck plates told him he had to do something.

"Cut off all connections between Unit-01 and the Pilot," Ikari ordered.

"Negative, we have no control over the Eva!" Dr Akagi franticly reported.

Fuyutsuki bent down and spoke into Ikari's ear, "We have to clear him for launch. If we don't he could bring the entire command center down around our ears."  
  
Ikari thought for a moment, "Do you think this is because of the oddity we've been detecting during the last few battles?"

"It's quite possible. Let him launch, we'll record the telemetry from Unit-01 and go through it later. I have a theory as to what is responsible but I don't have time to go into it now. Launch him, or we're all going to be in a lot of trouble," the old professor said.

"Very well. Clear Unit-01 for launch, put him on the far side of the city opposite Unit-02. Rei, get the lance," Gendo ordered.

"The old men aren't going to be happy that we used the lance," Fuyutsuki warned.

"We don't have a choice."

--

Yui was scared for her son. She couldn't understand how Unit-01 was responding without her direct influence. She was the key to the Beast this machine was, there was no way Shinji should have been able to activate it without her consent. It wasn't possible!

Unit-01 shot up on the opposite side of Tokyo-3, facing Unit-02. Shinji crouched down, preparing for a run at Unit-02. One day while watching sports with Touji he had see an American football game. He was going to tackle Unit-02.

"Misato, I need a clear line between me and Asuka. NOW!" he said.

Buildings began descending as Shinji prepared for his run. Once the last building had recessed, Shinji ran for all his worth. He had begun running so fast, anyone at ground level would have been swept away in the wake of his Eva.

As he ran he heard Asuka's words from that morning in his mind.

"_Whatever happens, I'll stand beside you as best I can..."_

"_I promise..."_

"I'll stand beside you too. I promise," Shinji said quietly as he ran for all he was worth to save the girl he hoped to call his friend.

--

The rifle was empty, and Unit-02 could not protect her from the onslaught of images attacking her mind. Over and over she kept reliving the worst day of her life. The day she had found her mother hanging from the ceiling, and the doll that she had thought was Asuka with it's head torn off. 

The only thing she could hear were her own screams, nothing more. She was curled up in the entry plug, trying to fend off the memories to no avail. 

"Get out of my mind," she kept saying, her words now masked by the uncontrollable sobbing the attack had forced on her.

"_Asuka!"_

She heard her name called from far away. She couldn't tell who was calling to her, but she didn't care. All she wanted was to disappear from this nightmare. She wanted it to end, even if she had to die for the nightmare to be over. She didn't know that that call would be her only warning.

Shinji had launched himself towards Unit-02, and for an instant was enveloped by the same light that had Asuka. In the span of only a few seconds they both shared their own nightmares with each other. The worst day of each of their lives was lain bare before the other, forcing them to share something they couldn't even share with themselves. It felt like an eternity in what was truly only a few seconds.

Unit-01 grabbed Unit-02 and dove down, rolling out of the light and picking up her fallen comrade. With Unit-02 firmly in grasp, Shinji ran as fast as he could to the nearest retrieval point. Over his com he could hear the cheering in the command deck as he began his decent back into the bowels of NERV. 

He hadn't even seen Unit-00 reappear on the surface. Nor did he see Rei launch the Lance of Longinus into space, killing the Angel of Truth and sending the Lance irretrievably towards the moon.

To Be Continued...

Authors Notes: Sorry for the extended delay on this one. I've been trying to get the feelings and images I wanted to get across organized in my mind. It's very difficult to get these things from my mind onto the screen, so it does take a long time if I want to make this work right. I do want to try to get the next chapter out much more quickly then this one came. However, I am trying to get several other fics done as well. But I've got three months where I won't have anything to do in my off time BUT write.

Next Chapter: Unit-00 has been destroyed. Rei III has been awakened, and the dark secret of her origin's soon will be reveled. However, with the arrival of the Fifth Child and the continued conspiracy between the living and the dead, will Yui be able to help her son and her Allies uncover the truth. And what will happen as two children caught in the middle start to share more then just respect for each other.

Next Chapter: The Thin Line Between Darkness and Light.

Pre-readers: King Alar, LeperMessiah, Isamu, Shinguru, Jama

Later.


	7. The Thin Line Between Darkness and Light

A Soul Possessed

Chapter 7: The Thin Line Between Darkness and Light

An Evangelion Fanfiction

By: Lord Legato Deathscythe

It had been three days since the Fifteenth Angel had torn through Asuka's mind, and three days since she had shared the darkest day of her life with Shinji. Neither of them had ever intended for those memories to be laid out in such a fashion, but it was there now. They both shared those memories between them. Whatever power the Fifteenth Angel had, it had imprinted the memory of the day her mother had died into Shinji's mind, as his had been imprinted in hers.

They had spent most of the last three days just holding on to each other. Their pact to stand together, now had become the only thing holding them together now. Neither moved except to eat, or to answer the annoying call of nature. They just remained on the couch in the living room most of the time, holding on.

Misato had watched them from the hall most days when she wasn't being called to NERV. They were her responsibility, and she felt helpless as they now turned to each other to get through something she couldn't possibly imagine. They both slept now, not moving. Misato was about to go to her room when Shinji slowly got up, making sure not to disturb Asuka from her slumber.

He got up and walked directly to her, the transition between son and mother showing as Yui came out.

"How are they doing?" she asked.

"I thought you would know, considering," Misato said to the dead woman.

"I've stayed out of the way, I didn't want to disturb them myself. But I don't have a choice now, our time is growing short. We don't have much time if we want to ensure their future," Yui said, her voice filled with infinite sadness.

"You saw the same thing Asuka did, didn't you?" Misato said, not really asking.

"I had tried to avoid browsing through his thoughts. I maybe using his body to help them, but I haven't been gallivanting through each memory. You have no idea what it is like to see your own death through the eyes of your child. I hope you never have to find out," Yui said, a shiver running through her.

"You're the one who made it to where he could take control of Unit-01 himself, aren't you?" Misato said, this wasn't a question either.

"No, I didn't. I don't know why that happened, or how."

"But, if you didn't do it then what happened?" Misato asked, fear entering her voice.

"I don't know."

Asuka turned on the couch, mumbling something to low for Misato and Yui to hear.

Yui moved back to the couch, taking on the shape of her son once more, "When Shinji and Asuka stop being joined at the hip, I'll have to start taking a more active role in all this. We don't have time to wait anymore, this train is heading right for us and if we don't do something they are going to be the ones run over by it."

--

"What do you have Professor?"

Fuyutsuki had walked in with a folder of some sort and began laying pages out on the commanders desk. Every page held a readout of some sort of another, some marked and some not. Fuyutsuki handed Gendo one that was marked "Third Child" and dated six months ago.

"This is Shinji's brainwave pattern when he first piloted Unit-01. It's stable, and it hadn't gone through any of the changes Dr. Akagi noted. Now, as the amount of time in Unit-01 increases, another pattern begins to interfere with that," Kouzou said.

"Yes, I know all this. What does this have to do with his control over Unit-01?" Gendo said, impatient with his mentor.

"This is the battle with the Thirteenth. You can see the unknown pattern here is causing much more interference until the point where it becomes dominate. Do you see anything familiar about this pattern?"

Gendo shook his head, "Nothing of consequence."

Fuyutsuki smiled, "Of course you wouldn't, because you aren't looking close enough. Here is another brainwave pattern. It's an exact match to the unknown. I don't blame you for not recognizing it, since you haven't seen anything like it for about ten years. At the time you weren't concerned with patterns of the mind when it related to this subject."

Commander Ikari looked at the readout. It was a perfect match to the abnormal pattern observed in the Third Child. He didn't see what the professor was getting at until he read the header. His jaw dropped slightly, breaking the cold mask he usually wore.

"How is this possible?"

"I don't know. I just know that it is happening. Brainwave patterns are like fingerprints, they never change on any drastic level. And they are different to each person, no one has the exact same pattern. There are always minute differences, but a base line comparison to normal can tell you if someones brain is working properly. Other then that, there is a lot that we don't know about the mind, even now," Fuyutsuki explained. The break in the Commander's exterior told him the message had gotten through.

"Leave me, I have to give this serious thought," Ikari said, turning away from Kouzou and facing the walls of glass looking out into the rest of the Geofront.

The old professor gathered his material and made to leave the office. He had purposefully left the older readout on Ikari's desk, knowing the implications of what he had told the commander. Kouzou Fuyutsuki now wondered what was going through the mind of his once star pupil as he left the office of Commander Ikari.

--

Asuka woke sometime late morning, the apartment filled with silence and the scent of rain from an open window. The nightmare she had been through still ran through her mind like a freight train, unstoppable and constant. The only comfort that had come to her was oddly enough Shinji. She didn't see them as lovers, didn't even really think of what was happening between them as such. If they were nothing more then friends, that would be enough.

As difficult as it was to admit to herself, Asuka needed someone to simply hold onto right then. He had risked his life to save her, had in some way forced Unit-01 to his will, and pulled her out of that illuminated Hell the Angel had brought down on her. She couldn't feel anything other then drained and exhausted, her mind still filled with the images she had fought so long to keep hidden from herself.

There was more there now though, more that she hadn't even begun to process. For the brief moment that they were both in the beam together, something from his mind had been sent into hers. She hadn't delved too deeply into it yet, but could still hear one thing in her mind.

The voice of Commander Ikari screaming.

She wasn't adverse to hearing him scream in agony, had thought about various ways she'd torture him if given the chance and what would happen. This scream however, wasn't of a man who was cold, calculating, unfeeling. This was a cry of loss, a soul broken in half as hers had been. After the scream all she could hear was the sound of a young boy crying and asking for his father to come back.

It was too much to handle at one time, her pain and the pain of two others. As hard as she tried though she couldn't force either memory back to the darkness. They repeated in her mind so much they overlapped, until it was simply the sound of agony with no form or context. If she was seeing this, then she knew Shinji had to be seeing the same thing in his mind.

She didn't know how either of them would be able to talk to the other about what they had seen. Part of her wanted to rail against him, to destroy him for this. She had a hard time not listening to that voice. But then she remembered he put himself in harms way to stop her assault. He even had taken it himself as he had pushed her out of the Angel's way. That and the recent strangeness she couldn't muster up the energy to be even angry.

She should have been furious.

Perhaps the attack had taken more from her then she realized. The stress of dealing with everything that she had been forced to relive then take on wore on her. She would deal with it as she had been. "_I have to get through this," _she thought angrily.

She walked to the kitchen for something to eat and drink. Her throat felt dry as she started to let the juice from the fridge drain past her lips. She didn't want to wake Shinji from his slumber, knowing he needed what peace he could get just as much as she did. She fixed a small sandwich and ate it quietly.

He was still sleeping when she went back into the living room. In that she couldn't blame him, only wishing she could rejoin him in some dreamless rest. She wasn't going to get that luxury though. She felt dirty, soiled. She could still smell the LCL on her and the stickiness of the blood scented fluid on her skin. There was more to this feeling of uncleanliness though.

She left Shinji laying on the couch and went to the bathroom, stripping off the clothes she wore as she did. If he awoke and saw her she didn't really care. After what they had shared in mind a little physical exposure to the other was inconsequential. She closed the bathroom door and looked at herself in the mirror. If there was ever a time she understood why her guardian looked the way she did with a hangover now was the time. Asuka just hadn't had the benefit of enjoying a night drinking to obtain this look.

Asuka took a long shower, letting the water clear away what remained of the LCL from her flesh. The water ran across her skin, and Asuka could almost feel bits and pieces of what had happened drain down her body as the water cleansed her. She wasn't foolish though. That thing had raped her, violated the most sacred part of her she had. Even a physical rape would have been bad, but to have your mind torn apart and your nightmares forced upon you was worse.

And Shinji had gone through the same thing. Would he feel as she felt right now? Knowing him he would feel worse about being shown her past then his own pain. It was how he was, less concerned with himself. He would feel guilty because in his mind he had also ravaged her even if all he did was save her life.

She wouldn't let him, because she was just as guilty as he was.

Asuka stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. She went to her room and put on some fresh clothes, picking out the most comfortable shirt and shorts she had. She went back to the living room and found Shinji still asleep, this time though he was restless. She watched his brow furrow as he moaned out in his sleep. As she laid her hand on his forehead she heard him say, "Please... no... don't leave me... please... Father."

Asuka held him as he fought against this nightmare, knowing he had done the same for her.

--

"So how are they holding up?" Ritsuko asked.

Misato didn't look well at all. Her eyes were bleary, dark circles obvious under her eyes. Akagi could tell her old friend hadn't held up too well either. Misato barely could be heard as she spoke, "They've been sleeping together ever since they got home. And before you get any weird ideas I mean that literally."

Ritsuko nodded, "Understandable, they both suffered some mental contamination from the attack. Luckily it was from each other and not the Angel."

Misato didn't like that, "There was nothing lucky about what happened."

Ritsuko knew the turn this was taking, and unlike others wasn't one to try to stop it. "It's cruel, but we don't have a choice. We're talking the survival of our species, we can't forget that."

Akagi turned to leave, but just before she was out the door she heard Misato say, "What good is saving the species when we lose what makes us human?"

Ritsuko Akagi had no answer for that kind of question.

--

Yui walked through the corridors of NERV quickly. No one paid her much mind as she kept her son's visage clearly. The Children were all scheduled for a sync test today. NERV was more concerned with getting them in the plug and making sure they could still start up the Eva's. Yui had every confidence Shinji would be cleared, she was worried about Asuka though. Even before the fifteenth the girl was dangerously close to the edge. Hopefully having Shinji and her together would get the daughter of her old friend through this.

Yui stopped at a MAGI terminal out of the way and hidden from prying eyes both human and electronic. The fingers of her hand danced over the keyboard with practiced ease. Everything was there before her, and now it was clear what would happen next. No one knew the scenario better then her save Gendo. Yui could tell from the files that he was already preparing for the Sixteenth.

She began her long walk back to the locker room so Shinji could take over. However she had left a treat in the Lazarus protocols. Gendo would be pleasantly surprised she hoped. Pleasant for her needs, not his anymore.

_"I started this nightmare. I dragged my family into it, and now I have to finish it," _she thought as she entered the locker room and receded into the back of Shinji's mind once more.

If anyone asked him what he had been doing he wouldn't be able to answer. As it was he couldn't explain how he had ended up in the locker room, or what had happened for the last twenty minutes. Shinji shook a little as he tried to deal with this blackout he had just had. He wrote it off though, certain that he had simply lost himself in thought trying to come to terms to the dark turn his life had taken.

--

Rei Ayanami was dead. There was no way anyone could have survived the destruction that Unit-00 left in its wake. She had done the most noble thing anyone could do for another. She sacrificed her own life rather then see the only other person in her life who ever cared for her injured. This fact was not lost on Shinji Ikari, if only because it made it hurt more.

He hated people getting hurt or injured because of him. Strange that lately he had sought comfort and solace in the arms of a girl who used to do him harm just for glancing at her wrong. But she was willing to be there now, and just hold him as he mourned for the loss. They had been doing that a lot lately, holding onto each other to get through the nightmares they had faced.

Asuka stroked his hair as he lay there with his head in her lap. She hadn't let go of him since Unit-00 blew. She knew how important Rei had been to him, maybe even a little jealous of the blue haired girl.

That stopped her in her tracks. _"Why should I be jealous that he had feelings for Wondergirl? It's not like I actually like him that way. It's just that he needs me right now, that's all."_

She never told her self that part of the reason she had not shied away from him or smacked him had been for the exact same reason. It was a feat for her to let him need her and actually do something about it. Still, she had to admit that when they slept side by side the nightmares of her Mother never seemed to come. If anything that was worth letting him touch her in any way.

"I just can't believe she's gone," he said, so softly she could barely hear him.

Asuka ran her fingers over his scalp, "She died to save you, just like you nearly did for me."

"I just wish I had been able to save her," he said, the tears starting to come.

Asuka just sat there and let him mourn, "I know Shinji, I know."

That he wanted to save everyone Asuka could see. He was so much more noble then she was. Asuka accepted that, she knew it was true. She had piloted Eva for her pride and the prestige. Rei had piloted because she had nothing else, a soldier that would die if ordered. She had proved that much today. Shinji however...

Out of all the pilots he had been the only one who first got in the Eva to spare someone else pain. Everything he had done in the Eva had been to help save the people around him. Every failure to save even one person weighed on him. It was only natural for him to be crushed by the guilt of loosing a friend to save his own life.

Asuka couldn't deny it anymore, his lack of pride made him the better pilot. Test scores were meaningless. All that mattered was how many Angels they had killed. Shinji didn't even see it that way. Maybe that was why he was able to best her so readily. The thing that was really shocking now was her lack of anger towards him. Having a part of his mind in hers now really did seem to calm her. Maybe it was a hidden blessing. The phone rang in the background, Asuka went to answer it leaving Shinji to rest. He didn't get much of a chance as Asuka ran back to him with the phone in hand.

"She's alive!"

--

Kaji stood in the hallway waiting to be summoned by the Prime Minister. The Ministry of the Interior had all his data and were still going through the information Yui Ikari was giving them through her son. He had not mentioned that part to anyone for fear of it all being ignored. People don't come back from the dead after all. If he was lucky he could keep more people from joining them though.

He was ushered into the office and stood as the Prime Minister acknowledged him. The Defense Minister and Interior Minister were also in the room, the three people he had to convince not to just barge in guns blazing. He only had to wait a few moments for the door to close before he was asked to report.

"My contact within NERV has been feeding us information since I was forced to vacate. They have managed to get us information on both Ikari and SEELE's plans after the final angel has been eliminated."

The defense minister huffed, "Then why are we waiting? I say we storm NERV now and stop this madness!"

"We can't, NERV is still a UN organization that is above Japanese law. We'll have to wait until we can get the UN to turn them over to us," the interior minister said.

"Good point, but we take no prisoners when we do take that godforsaken place," the defense minister said. Kaji could tell he's out for blood.

"Do you want to slaughter a bunch of unarmed, untrained technicians and murder three children?" Kaji asked.

The Prime Minister took all of this in. Kaji continued, "My contact in NERV has only agreed to help me as long as we guarantee a level of security for the pilots themselves and Major Katsuragi. She's become a mother in most respects to the Second and Third Children."

The defense minister scoffed at this, "The Pilots should be terminated with prejudiced!"

Kaji turned on him, "I know those kids, they have nothing to do with Ikari's plans past finishing off the Seventeenth."

The Prime Minister decided to speak, "Agent Kaji is right. I will not turn the JSSDF on those kids and take away their lives in an assault. We have a source of information within NERV. We also have a possible fifth column in this source and Major Katsuragi if they don't have reason to turn on us. Ordering the executions of the pilots would give them just that."

"I can vouch for Major Katsuragi, Prime Minister. If we give her a way to get those kids through this alive she'll take it. Even if they can pilot an Evangelion, we shouldn't be so quick and eager to rob them of the chance of having a life after this," Kaji said.

"Then we will go with your proposal Agent Kaji. If an invasion does become necessary the troops will not be ordered to kill everything in sight. Am I clear?"

The three other men stood and bowed, acknowledging they were dismissed.

--

Gendo had not moved from the spot Fuyutsuki had left him in for several hours. The information his old professor had laid out gave the once assured man pause. The implications were absolute however. She was actively working against him. Gendo shook his head, trying to free himself of this new doubt. The assuredness he prided himself on however refused to come.

This had after all been her work, her desire. He should had expected that she would turn against his plans as they no longer coincided with her own. He couldn't accept her plans, not after they had cost him the one thing he cared about most in the world. Her desire to turn Eva into a new ark.

"_Yui, are you still trying to turn your creation into the last beacon of humanity? Are you still so certain the old men are right and wish for Unit-01 to remain as humanities grave marker? No, you couldn't. Not after what you've undoubtedly seen within Shinji's mind," _Gendo thought.

He had hidden that fact from Fuyutsuki and Akagi. As much as his scenario called for something amounting to genocide Yui's original idea had been much worse. She had all the knowledge he had about the scrolls thanks to SEELE. Knew what they were planning as intricately as he had. She had created Unit-01 to combat the Angel's for the purpose of protecting humanity and proving ourselves worthy of the next step. Whatever form that step would take.

Dispite of what most would think, Commander Gendo Ikari had nothing but love in his heart for his son. It was that love that drove him to cast the boy away, that love that forced him to keep him distant. That love of a Father, so stained with blood to keep his only child away so the taint wouldn't be passed on. Gendo knew his sins, and knew the old saying. He would be damned if his sins were visited upon Shinji.

For the first time in ten long years Gendo Ikari was uncertain about how to proceed. If Yui had changed her mind then she would find a way to save their son. If she hadn't then she was still willing to leave Unit-01 and it's souls to whatever may find it as the last marker of a dead people.

Gendo however always had believed that death brings nothing.

--

Shinji, Asuka, and Misato stood in horror as Ritsuko Akagi destroyed every last dummy plug core. The empty shells that all looked like Rei, laughing happily as they died and dissolved into the LCL that held them. Asuka felt at that moment nothing more then the cold understanding one gets when something truly monstrous is laid out before them. The connection between Shinji and Rei. The cold and distant nature of the First. Even her odd interest in Shinji.

Shinji however couldn't gather up enough coherent thought to even make those connections. All he could do was face this nightmare, hoping he could wake up knowing he was wide awake. The horror before him was all too real, and all too close. He barely registered Asuka's hand take his as his shoulders started to shake.

Misato kept her gun trained on her old friend as Asuka lead Shinji out of the lab. Once they were in the corridor Shinji leaned against the wall, the tears falling slowly. Asuka took him in her arms and held him tightly.

"It's okay, just let it out," she said as Shinji broke down. His arms wrapped around her and clung to her for dear life as she had been doing with him since her mind had been violated. They just stood there, clinging to each other as the world around them seemed to be falling apart.

All of this was not lost on the lost soul within, _"So, my wraith has had all her spares disposed of. One more key to Gendo's plans falling away. Dear Husband, I do hope you understand what I am doing here. My plans are so much more important then your own."_

To Be Continued

Author's notes: Note too pleased with this chapter, but I think it fills things in nicely. But the question is now, are Yui's plans as altruistic as they were initially thought?

Prereaders:

Next Chapter: The Fifth Child arrives and already can sense that something is wrong with Shinji. Asuka does all she can to keep him stable, a difficult task for one who still isn't certain about her own feelings. And are Yui's plans really as focused on Shinji as she's lead Misato to believe? Or as with everything else within the belly of the beast, are her motives something completely different.

Next Chapter: Angels We Have Heard on High.


End file.
